A court in New Caledonia has jailed three men for four years after finding them guilty of firing a shotgun at police vehicles.
According to Noumea's daily newspaper, the incident occurred near Canala in October 2009.
Four men had been arrested and probed for attempted homicide but they insisted that the only wanted to damage the vehicles.
Three of them were given four-year jail terms, while a fourth one has been seen as having played only a minor role and having served his sentence while being in remand.
The paper says the men all had many previous convictions for crimes such as assault, rape and theft.