Kash Patel gave his Australian counterpart a 3D replica gun as a gift. It was destroyed within months

The FBI director, Kash Patel, gave a 3D-printed pistol to then AFP commissioner Reece Kershaw during the US agency director’s trip to Australia and New Zealand last July. Photograph: Nathan Posner/Shutterstock View image in fullscreen The FBI director, Kash Patel, gave a 3D-printed pistol to then AFP commissioner Reece Kershaw during the US agency director’s trip to Australia and New Zealand last July. Photograph: Nathan Posner/Shutterstock Kash Patel gave his Australian counterpart a 3D replica gun as a gift. It was destroyed within months Documents show the FBI director’s gift was ‘displayed proudly’ by the AFP before new commissioner ordered it be destroyed Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast When the FBI director, Kash Patel, visited the Australian federal police last year, he came bearing a gift: a 3D-printed imitation pistol that then was “displayed proudly” in the commissioner’s office. Yet within months, shortly after Krissy Barrett became the AFP’s new commissioner last October, she ordered it to be destroyed. Documents released by the AFP this week under freedom of information laws reveal Patel gave the pistol to Barrett’s predecessor, Reece Kershaw, during the US agency director’s trip to Australia and New Zealand last July. FBI defends Kash Patel after report alleging he gifts custom whiskey bottles Read more Those documents also show the level of excitement among some AFP staff about the gun. “Directors gift to the boss!! 3D,” one text message from a AFP member stated alongside a photo. “Thanks so much for your help over the last two days with the FBI gun – now being displayed proudly in the commissioner’s office!” an email from a staff member in Kershaw’s office stated. Their photos were redacted in the documents released, “on the grounds they would or could reasonably be expected to, cause damage to the international relations of the Commonwealth”. Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email Yet the excitement was short-lived. A spokesperson for the AFP confirmed Barrett had ordered the destruction of the gift – which they described as “a challenge coin display featuring a 3D-printed imitation pistol” – last year. “After receipt, the display pistol was examined by the AFP’s forensic firearms team, which verified it as an inoperable, imitation pistol,” the spokesperson said. “AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett ordered the destruction of the gift when she became commissioner in October 2025.” View image in fullscreen Australian federal police commissioner, Krissy Barrett, ordered the 3D-printed imitation pistol be destroyed. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP In the gift registry document included in the release, it is noted that the gun “has been destroyed on advice from ACT Firearms Registry”. Last year it was revealed similar events took place in New Zealand, where media reported that three replica pistols gifted by Patel to local officials had to be destroyed in line the country’s gun laws. New Zealand law e