A convoy of police cars seen travelling north from Dunedin at speed just after noon was a "full team of AOS members" sent to assist Oamaru police, after a member of the public earlier in the day reported a man at the address had presented a firearm in public, Detective Sergeant Hannah Booth, of Oamaru, said.
The two were arrested and later released. No firearm had been found, but inquiries continued, she said.
The police action in Oamaru was brief, with several blocks of South Hill blocked off by police cars for about 15 minutes from about 12.30pm.
A witness caught inside the police cordon said he saw police "talking a guy out of the house".
The man, who asked not to be named, said his view was somewhat obscured from his vantage point near the Wansbeck and Wharfe Sts intersection, but he saw "at least 12" AOS officers, with their weapons out, spread around the Wansbeck St house near the Tees St intersection.
"There were no dramas or anything," he said.
"They were just yelling instructions."
One person came out of the house with his hands up, he said. He was handcuffed and sat on the footpath in front of the house.
Then a second person came out of the house, who was also handcuffed and sat on the footpath.
"All I could see was them standing there with their rifles trained on these guys as they were coming out ... both of them were sat on the ground and there was a copper there talking to them. And then the police car moved up, which opened the cordon — I ... left."
According to the Waitaki District Council’s property and rating database, the Wansbeck St house is owned by Housing New Zealand.
