An armed police incident in the Beverley Road area of Hull was sparked by a hoax call, police have confirmed.
Officers are appealing for help to identify the man who made the call just before 8.30pm last night.
He reported that threats to kill were being made to a woman by a man in a communal area at an address in St Leonard's Road, off Beverley Road, just north of Hull city centre. Armed response officers were deployed to the area, off Beverley Road, along with support from the force helicopter, dog handlers and uniform divisional officers.
A number of streets in the Beverley Road area were cordoned off as a precaution and diners in the Raj Pavilion restaurant were asked to remain inside for about an hour.
A police spokeswoman said: "All rooms in the accommodation in St Leonard's Road were checked by armed officers but the informant, the alleged victim nor the offender could be located."
Roads were re-opened and patrols stood down at about 10.45pm after the alleged victim was located and was unaware of any threats.
Chief Inspector Ed Cook said: "It turns out that nobody was ever at risk and no firearms was ever present, however police have to treat threats such as this seriously until proven otherwise.
"Now a thorough investigation will commence into the source of the hoax call given the fear it caused to the general public and the significant amount of police resources used.
"Making hoax calls such as this and wasting police time is a serious offence that can lead to a prison sentence and we will now be making a very thorough investigation into this incident."
Anyone who has any information about the hoax, or the identity of the caller, is asked to call police on 101 referring to log 682 of April 18 or ring Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
The Mail's Ellie Newton-Syms was at a business meeting at Raj Pavilion as the events unfolded.
She said: "Police told us we had to stay in the restaurant.
"The officer guarding the door would not reveal what was going on outside, but he said the door must remain locked and no one was allowed to leave.
"There were a number of police on the street from what we could see, and the road was blocked off with police vans.
"We were locked in for about an hour before police started escorting people to their cars, if they were parked nearby.
"The Raj Pavilion was quite busy but everybody was pretty relaxed and stayed calm.
"Everyone was happy to leave once we were allowed and as we left, ambulances and a number of police vehicles remained at the scene."
