Historical weapons donated to RSL after raid on underworld figure's house

Members of the public have been invited to the Rosebud RSL club on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula to see the "historically significant" bayonets on display with its extensive military collection.

It comes after police seized two bayonets, among a cache of weapons, while searching the home of a Middle Eastern organised crime gang member in Caroline Springs, in Melbourne's western suburbs, in November 2021.

Investigators went to "considerable lengths" to find the rightful owner of the bayonets after discovering that the stolen 100-year-old weapons were historically significant.

Two military historians examined the World War I era bayonets and found that one was issued by the British army while was from the French army.

Detective Sergeant Ciaran Duryea said, "It's not every day that you seize a weapon that is over 100 years old, let alone one that has some historical significance".

"We were really hopeful that enquiries would lead us to the rightful owner - we had no way of knowing whether these items were of particular significance to someone's family and they had been taken from them," he said.

"Unfortunately, and despite a significant amount of work, we were never able to find the owners.

"So we wanted to make sure that the weapons didn't end up being destroyed and that piece of history wouldn't be lost forever."

Rosebud RSL president Bruce Turner said he was "honoured" to receive the historic weapons from the police on June 13.

"We got memorabilia from all conflicts on display at the RSL. We have an extensive collection [donated by the community]," he said.

Mr Turner laughed when asked if he was worried the gang member could return to reclaim the historic weapons.

"That's no problem at all," he said.

All weapons were seized from the criminal syndicate member, due to a Firearms Prohibition Order, and he was charged with weapons and drug offences, police said.