NZ Pokemon Go players land a crook

A group of late night Pokemon Go players searching for virtual monsters on their cellphones caught a suspected thief instead.

Wellington - A group of late night Pokemon Go players searching for virtual monsters on their cellphones instead became part of a real life crime drama capturing an alleged thief and holding him until police arrived.

Police said a group of young people had been out hunting Pokemon in Napier late on Wednesday night when they heard a car alarm go off and then saw a man running past in a horror mask disguise.

They promptly gave chase, with one of them grabbing the alleged thief while another phoned police.

Senior Sergeant David Sutherland said it was a great catch by the Pokemon players.

"If it wasn't for this group of young people, then we would never have caught this guy. Well done to them, they were brave enough to hold him till our staff arrived."

Sutherland said however that it was generally better for people to call police rather than take on roles as real life crime fighters.

"Capturing little Pokemon monsters isn't just good for the players... in this case it's good for the police too, but we don't want any good Samaritans getting hurt."

A 28-year-old man has been charged with stealing from a car and is to appear in court on September 7.

dpa