A Comic Relief fundraiser sparked a large-scale police alert when he was seen walking along a busy road in full camouflage carrying a 'large rifle ' . Armed police , a helicopter and patrol cars were called to the Whitefriars area of Norwich after members of the public raised the alarm this morning . But officers have now revealed that the man , who lives locally , was just on his way to a fundraising event in a costume complete with a toy AK47 . Chief Inspector Chris Spinks said the man surrendered the 'weapon ' and was 'apologetic and very embarrassed ' . Armed police are hunting a 'gunman ' in full camouflage clothing seen walking through a busy city centre . 'As a result of the media attention we had a phone call come in saying they thought they had identified the man , ' he said . 'We went to see him at 2pm and he was very apologetic and very embarrassed . Two of our officers offered him some strong words of advice . 'He surrendered the weapon which was an imitation firearm . It was a plastic model AK47 which he had painted himself to make it more realistic . 'What he has been told and what we would tell other people is that anybody who wants to do something out of the ordinary should think about it first . 'Obviously when you have dressed yourself like that you know what your motives are but clearly some people this morning were not and they rightly called the police . 'We were relatively certain that it would be something around the fundraising issue but we could n't be sure so we responded with our armed unit , our dog unit and a helicopter . ' There have been no sightings of the man since officers responded to a number of calls this morning . 'This is the second similar high profile incident which has taken place in the last month . 'We would like to remind people to think carefully about the consequences of carrying imitation weapons and of their general appearance which , as in this case , could be misconstrued by other members of the public . ' No offences were committed , but the man was visited by officers and has been given strong words of advice about the consequences of his actions . Officers were called to the Whitefriars area of Norwich - near the city 's law courts - at about 8.30am today and a helicopter was deployed to help with the search . A taxi driver , who captured video of the 'gunman ' , said : ' I saw a man in the full combat clothing carrying a rifle in his right hand . ' I was n't sure if it was an imitation but I thought it was a bit strange . ' Eliza O'Hara tweeted : 'Arrive at work to find the area surrounded by police with guns and a helicopter circling . ' John M Hayes ‏tweeted : 'Our Norwich Office was surrounded by armed police and helicopters , thankfully none of the team was wearing camouflage . ' Police mounted a full-scale search operation in Norwich on February 18 when a teenager was spotted waving around a machete . It turned out he was a second-year media student participating in a film project - and was actually waving a toy sword . Do you know the charity fundraiser ? Email jenny.awford @ dailymail.co.uk or call 02036154835 .
A ' man ' wearing camouflage clothing sparked security alert in response . But man has been revealed as a charity Relief fundraiser in fancy dress . Armed police organised a manhunt and a helicopter was deployed . No offences were committed , but the suspect was referred to by police . Do you know this man ? Email jenny.awford @ home or call 02036154835 .