A vandalism crackdown and a Sydney teenager's mobile phone selfies have landed him in court on serious gun charges, police say.
Police arrested the 17-year-old last month at Parramatta Station, in the city's west, over alleged graffiti offences.
Detective Superintendent Paul Devaney said the teen was let out on bail but a search of his mobile phone allegedly showed photos of him posing with a shotgun.
Three weeks of "good old-fashioned police work" later, officers on Wednesday searched a home in Sydney's west, where they allegedly uncovered a sawn-off double-barrel shotgun and a sawn-off, loaded .22 calibre rifle.
A 41-year-old man living at the Hertz Place home in Emerton was arrested following the search but later released pending further inquiries.
The 17-year-old - an alleged associate of the older man - was returned to custody and is due before the children's court on Thursday, charged with possessing an unauthorised firearm and an unlicensed firearm.
"This seizure of firearms was a complex investigation that originated from a routine graffiti offence and an arrest by police transport command officers," Det Supt Devaney said.
"A number of inquiries led us to those premises.
"I'd like to say that it was a bit of good old-fashioned police work, with the assistance of some technology, that resulted in the outcome we achieved yesterday."
He said the charges were "very concerning", given the alleged offender's age, and investigators will attempt to find out how the weapons came into his alleged possession.
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