FBI Director Kash Patel gave "inoperable plastic 3D-printed replica” pistols deemed illegal to possess under New Zealand's gun laws to at least three senior police, security and intelligence officials on a visit to the country earlier this year.

Axar.az reports, citing NBC news, Patel presented the guns to New Zealand Police Commissioner Richard Chambers; Andrew Hampton, the director-general of the country’s intelligence service; and Andrew Clark, the director-general of the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB), according to police and Hampton and Clark’s departments.

Patel traveled to the capital, Wellington, to open the FBI’s first standalone office in New Zealand on July 31.

Inoperable weapons that can be modified or amended to be made operable are illegal to possess under New Zealand law. An additional permit, beyond a regular gun license, is required to possess a pistol.

The maximum prison sentence for a person who illegally possesses a pistol in New Zealand is three years or a fine of 4,000 New Zealand dollars ($2,300). There is no suggestion Patel could be charged.

Chambers, in a written statement to NBC News, said he sought the advice of the country’s Firearms Safety Authority, the government body tasked with regulating lawful possession and use of firearms in New Zealand, one day after receiving the gift.

“While inoperable in the form they were gifted, a subsequent analysis by the Firearms Safety Authority and Police Armory determined that modifications could have made them operable,” Chalmers said.

“To ensure compliance with firearms laws, I instructed Police to retain and destroy them,” he added.

The spokesperson for the New Zealand Intelligence Community said Hampton and Clark’s gifts were also handed over to the country’s national police force.