AOS callout suspected hoax

Police are investigating whether a call about a carload of armed Mongrel Mob members that sparked an AOS callout and evacuation of Napier residents for two hours yesterday, was a prank.

Nuffield Ave, Napier, residents reported being detained at cordons and having AOS members in their gardens, after a 9am emergency call reported gang members welding guns in the Marewa street.

A police spokesman said the Hawke's Bay Armed Offenders Squad carried out extensive searches of houses in Nuffield Ave and nearby Williams St, as well as a car, but nothing - and no one - had been found.

Road blocks were in place on surrounding streets and residents were seen leaving their houses in dressing gowns.

"It didn't seem to be the job we thought it might have been," the spokesman said.

"We didn't get the people that we thought were there. We are not sure [if it was a prank call] ... but it is possible."

Nuffield Ave resident Keri Campbell said armed police had been crouching in her front garden.

"We had the AOS squad in our front yard and a few more across the road and next door" she said. "They were just watching a house but they were there for a while."

Karla Jurczakowski said she and her children were stranded at a police cordon as AOS members carried out their searches.

"It was all go," she said. "I guess with the whole Jan Molenaar thing they sort of prepare for the worst."