No charge for kidnap pranksters

Police will not charge a group of pranksters who staged a fake kidnapping in Auckland.

Officers were called to Mission Bay late last month after reports a group of balaclava-clad people snatching a man from the street and driving off with him in a van.

After several hours of inquiries, they discovered the abduction was a stag party prank.

Detective Senior Sergeant Mark Benefield says the group has been let off with a severe warning because there was no real malice in their activity.

He says they also made an attempt, albeit feeble, to suggest it was a prank by putting a small sign in the back window saying "stag prank".

- NEWSTALK ZB