Armed police search Koutu house for wanted man

Photo/Stephen Parker

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 for the 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.

Photo/Stephen PArker

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.

Photo/Stephen Parker

Mr Ngawhika said the man was not inside.

A Rotorua woman, who live streamed the action on Facebook from a nearby house, said she heard the police arrive and call out over the loud hailers.

"They were saying "come out, come out'," she said.

She said it was a bit of excitement for the afternoon.

About 50 people were gathered at the park watching as the incident unfolded.