A full scale armed police response was sent to the home of an unsuspecting teenager after a member of the public reported seeing him wave a gun out a car window - but it turned out the weapon was a fake.
Police have now issued a warning about "disturbingly realistic" replica firearms following the incident on Auckland's North Shore this morning, which fooled seasoned officers.
The 18-year-old was spotted around 9.45am by a concerned member of the public who reported seeing him waving a handgun out of the passenger window of a car on Oteha Valley Rd in Albany.
An armed police operation was immediately launched, police said, complete with the Eagle helicopter, several dog units and a number of front-line officers to search the area.
After 40 minutes the car was discovered at a property in Paremoremo Rd, and police telephoned the house asking for the young man to come outside with his hands up.
He walked out the door and was arrested.
His parents were also ordered out of the family home as police searched the property for the alleged firearm.
Five replica guns were found inside the house, police said, describing them as "disturbingly realistic".
The replica suspected to have sparked the callout was "so realistic that it wasn't until officers were able to handle it themselves and look at it closely that they were able to tell it was a fake", police said.
"There's no mucking around when it comes to firearms," Senior Sergeant Steve Pivac, who commanded the operation, said.
"Police have to treat every gun as real until we can confirm that it is not, and as this morning's callout has demonstrated, it can be impossible to tell. Even the trained eye can't distinguish between the real and the replica.
"If you're going to have one of these, be responsible and transport it as if were a real gun - lock it away in the boot."
By NZME. News Service
