Pokemon Go hunters were an unexpected help to police in Hawke's Bay.

He would have got away with it if it wasn't for those pesky kids.

A group of late-night Pokemon Go hunters helped capture more than a game creature when they stumbled across a horror mask-wearing criminal.

The group of four were at the Perfume Point car park, Napier, on Wednesday evening around 9.15pm looking for a Dragonite, a rare Pokemon they suspected might be in the area.

The POokemon Go hunters were looking for the rare character, Dragonite.

Their van was slowly moving when Steph, one of the group, noticed a nearby vehicle's lights flashing and seconds later a mask-wearing man running.

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"If he didn't have a mask on we probably wouldn't have gone for him," another group member Luke said.

Jinkies! Scooby-Doo mysteries would finish with an unmasking.

They described the mask as a generic scary type with hair, the kind sold around Halloween, rather than a memorable character.

The group drove after the man, then stopped as he ran towards his own vehicle and mumbled something through the glass at them.

Once they tackled him to the ground they pulled off his mask "like Scooby-Doo", Luke said.

"He looked like a nerd, like he was more suited behind a computer than breaking into cars."

They said he was a big guy and over 6ft [1.83 metres] tall.

"He got the tackle of his life and it took two of us to hold him down, he kept squirming," Luke said.

"He said if we let him go he wouldn't do it again."

They continued to hold him for 15 minutes until police arrived.

At one point the man slipped out of his shirt they were using to hold him and made a dash for his car, but the group were able to nab him again and took the keys from the vehicle's ignition.

"We didn't know what he had done, there has been lots of armed robberies around lately so we thought it was another one."

Normally the group hunt Pokemon only during the day, and never go out at night.

"After the police came we just carried on. What this guy did dented into our time hunting. And we didn't get the Dragonite."

Senior Sergeant David Sutherland described the incident as a "great catch".

"If it wasn't for this group of young people, then we would never have caught this guy. Well done to them, they were brave enough to hold him till our staff arrived and we thank them for a job well done."

Police arrested a 28-year-old man on charges of stealing from cars and is due to appear in the Napier District Court next week.

Pokemon Go is a wildly popular augmented reality smartphone game. It uses GPS to allow players to find, capture, battle, and train virtual creatures, called Pokemon.