Police arrest two, seize sawn-off shotgun after pulling over stolen car in Auckland

NEW ZEALAND - JULY 05:  As night falls the Armed Offenders squad assess the situation at the road block at Taipo Road in the rural Manuwatu township of Rongotea after an armed 16 year old local man shot one policewoman in the leg as she tried to flee and the another policeman was shot in the stomach and head and later died. Heavy Police presence is in the township.  (Photo by Graeme Brown/Getty Images)
Photo credit: Newshub.

Police have arrested two people in central Auckland after pulling over a stolen car that had a sawn-off semi-automatic shotgun in the passenger seat.

Just before midnight on Sunday, officers noticed a vehicle pulling into a driveway on Dominion Rd, Newton.

It drove away from the property a short time later, at which time police followed and stopped it on Newton Rd.

"Enquiries established that the vehicle was stolen, with false plates attached to it," police said in a statement sent to media. "Subsequently a loaded sawn-off shotgun was located in the front passenger seat area."

After stopping the vehicle, police arrested a 32-year-old woman and a 27-year-old man. They have been charged and will appear at Auckland District Court on Monday.

Senior Sergeant Alan Rowland, Auckland City West Area Response Manager, says the incident is "yet another example of our officers stopping offenders in vehicles with loaded firearms", following a shooting in west Auckland on Friday that resulted in the death of a police officer.

Snr Sgt Rowland says it's a reminder of "the very real risk and dangers our staff face each and every day as they try and keep our community safe".

On Friday, Constable Matthew Hunt was killed when he and another officer attempted to pull over a vehicle of interest in a routine traffic stop in Massey.

Const Hunt was tragically shot dead, while his colleague suffered serious injuries. A third person suffered minor injuries after being struck by the offender's fleeing vehicle.

The shooting has raised questions about whether police should be armed in the future.

A trial of the country's first armed police officers was scrapped after an investigation showed they were used most often for traffic stops instead of armed offenders or serious crime.