The city of Manchester department’s Facebook post invited people to capture a rare character called Charizard in the booking area

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Police in New Hampshire’s largest city are using Pokémon Go in an attempt to lure fugitives into their clutches.

Pokémon Go: how the overnight sensation was 20 years in the making Read more

A post on the Manchester police department Facebook page announced that officers recently detected one of the more rare Pokemon characters – a Charizard – in the booking area of police headquarters.

The post invited those whose names appeared on a list linked to the post to be “one of the lucky ones” to come and capture the creature. The list included the names of the more than 500 fugitives on the department’s wanted persons roundup.

Appearances of rare Pokémon characters have drawn huge crowds in cities around the globe. This week, the appearance of a super-rare Vaporeon in New York City caused players to swarm to Central Park.

The crazed scene was captured on video and posted to Twitter on Friday, causing one appalled used to write: “I honestly am wondering if we’re on the verge of a global breakdown.”

Elsewhere around the world, concerns have been raised about the app being used to lure users into unsafe or inappropriate situations or locations. Concerns have also been used about what the app might mean for users’ privacy.

Last week, police in Missouri reported that armed robbers used the game to lure victims to secluded areas.

In New Hampshire, Sgt Eric Knight said on Sunday that the Pokémon post had yet to lead to an arrest. It had however been popular with Facebook users. Since the post went up late Saturday night, it had captured more than 13,000 likes.