Police gathered in Palmerston last night during a two-hour hunt for a Waikouaiti man who drove off with two guns after allegedly threatening to shoot a former employer.
The 37-year-old, who was not previously known to police, took off from a Bucklands Crossing house about 6.55pm, sparking a wide-ranging search, Sergeant Chris McLellan, of Dunedin, said.
Armed police from Dunedin, Hampden, Oamaru, Ranfurly and Mosgiel, the police negotiation team and the armed offenders squad responded to unconfirmed sightings of the man's vehicle in Waikouaiti, Palmerston and on the Pigroot.
The man was eventually spotted by Mosgiel officers approaching State Highway 87, north of Middlemarch, just before 9pm.
He pulled over and co-operated with a request from the armed officers to get out of the vehicle.
Two firearms and "lots of ammunition" were found in the vehicle, and several firearms - including high-powered rifles and a sawn-off shotgun - were seized from his home.
The man was held in custody last night and will appear in the Dunedin District Court today on a charge of threatening to kill.
Further firearms-related charges are likely.
