THIS is the fearsome-looking "weapon" that sparked a two-hour police operation involving armed officers and dogs in York at the weekend.

And although it turned out to be a harmless toy that fires plastic pellets, even officers trained in the use of firearms were shocked at how much it resembles the genuine article.

The "soft-air" weapon is an almost exact copy of an Italian-made Franchi SPAS 12 pump-action shotgun.

Officers involved in the incident in Clifton yesterday were today warning of the potentially fatal consequences of possessing such an item.

Sgt Nigel Tottie, who has been trained in the use of firearms, said both he and colleagues based in the force's firearms unit were left horrified by how realistic the weapon looks.

He said: "It is the scariest-looking thing of this kind that I have ever seen in my life."

A frightened member of the public, who had been out walking, sparked the alert with a 999 call to police at about 2.30pm.

The person became concerned at the sight of a group of men playing with the weapon in the garden of a house in the Rowntree Avenue area.

In line with their policy, the police put emergency plans for such an incident into action.

Permission to draw weapons was sought from police headquarters at Northallerton, and two armed response vehicles were sent to the scene along with a dog unit and a number of other officers.

Contingency plans would also have been put in place and the situation assessed in depth.

But once officers made contact with the "armed" man the true nature of the weapon was revealed and officers were stood down at about 4.30pm.

Sgt Tottie said: "This is becoming a real issue for us. These things are widely available and people do not seem to realise the trouble they can cause and the potentially-deadly consequences of possessing them.

"Not only do we have to deploy a lot of resources to deal with this kind of incident, we have seen in other parts of the country that people with replica firearms have been shot by the police. Even from only a short distance you can't tell whether it's real or imitation."

The 20-year-old man who had the weapon was advised of the potential dangers of having such an item and agreed to hand it over to the police. The weapon is to be destroyed.

The man, who has not committed any offence by his actions, told officers he had bought the gun locally. Police intend to speak to the business concerned.

Updated: 14:40 Monday, April 15, 2002