The Australian Customs and Border Protection Service (ACBPS) intercepted an illegal shipment of weapons from China into the country. The contraband includes 5,400 knuckled dusters and 790 tasers that looked like iPhones and torchers.

There were also other types of electric shock devices and extendable batons, hidden between blankets and fitness equipment. The addressed was a tool shop in Thomastown.

The shipment could have ended up for sale in Australian streets, said Inspector Darren Franks of the Victoria Police, which collaborated with the ACBPS to stop the shipment.

Franks admitted the confiscated items, probably legal in China, have been around for a long time in different forms in other countries, but it is relatively new in Australia.

Tasers are intended to just shock victims and in some countries like Canada, police officers carry them. However, tasers are known to have killed people hit with its powerful electric zap.

The police have arrested a 43-year-old Victorian man for the illegal shipment. The offence is punishable by a maximum penalty of up to $425,000 and/or up to 10 years in jail.