A man carrying a paintball gun dressed in full tactical gear sparked an armed police response in Papamoa yesterday.

Police received three calls at about 9am reporting a man walking down Range Road towards Evans Road carrying what looked like an assault rifle.

A man dressed in full tactical gear and carrying a paintball gun, similar to the one pictured, was arrested in Papamoa yesterday morning.

Armed police swarmed to the area and quickly took the man, believed to be in his 30s, in to custody.

The only difference between the paintball gun and a real M4 semi-automatic rifle are the hoppers on top of the gun to hold the paintballs.

He is due to appear in court on Monday.

Neil Turner was working on Evans Road when he saw the man acting strangely.

He called police when he saw the man wearing what appeared to be full tactical gear and carrying a weapon that look like a real gun.

'I thought it was a paintball gun, but from a distance it was hard to tell,” says Neil.

'He pointed the gun at me. He was crouching down and acting all silly. I thought he was high on something.

'Someone else must have called police as well because when I was on the phone officers arrived and arrested the man.”

Neil says he saw what appeared to be an ammo belt strapped around the man.

'It's pretty silly to be out in public dressed in full hunting gear,” he adds.

'He had a beanie on and you just couldn't tell if the gun was real or not.”