Armed police surrounded a house in Koutu for more than an hour looking for a wanted man but failed to find him.
Members of the Rotorua Armed Offenders Squad surrounded the house on Koutu Rd, near the skate park, about 4pm today and made pleas over a loud hailer forthe man to come out.
Photo/Stephen Parker
Locals said the police were telling the man to come out because they had a search warrant.
For more than an hour Koutu Rd was blocked off to traffic and locals were kept from their nearby homes.
At 4.45pm, squad members entered the house. Just after 5pm they came out but didn't have anyone with them.
Detective Sergeant Herby Ngawhika of the Rotorua CIB told the Rotorua Daily Post afterwards police had information a wanted man was at the house. Given the nature of the charges the man was facing, they used the Armed Offenders Squad, he said.
Mr Ngawhika said the search took a while as the squad needed to work through its procedures, including voice appeals, sending in police dogs and eventually entering the house.
