A school in Whangarei has sent pupils home after the armed offenders squad was called out to a nearby house.
Kamo High School is closed for the day after the incident. Police used tear gas and stun grenades to flush out a suspected drug-dealer.
The incident began just before 6am on Thursday when armed police went to a house in Wilkinson Street, opposite Kamo High School, to execute a search warrant.
A woman and four children came out of the house about an hour later, but the man refused to leave.
Central Kamo was cordoned off to keep the public and school pupils away from the action as police fired tear gas and stun grenades into the house.
The man, 35, was arrested shortly afterwards.
He will appear in Whangarei District Court on 23 charges involving conspiracy to deal in methamphetamine.
