Police Bet On Rare 'Pokemon Go' Character To Catch Fugitives

These cops just want to catch them all. Fugitives, that is.

Police in Manchester, New Hampshire, are using a rare “Pokemon Go” character as bait to lure in the city’s most wanted criminals.

The Manchester Police Department claimed in a Facebook post on Saturday that a Charizard , which appears scarcely in the augmented reality smartphone game  that’s sweeping the world, had been detected in its HQ’s booking area.

The police said that the people whose names appeared on a list were “the lucky ones,” and could come in to capture the dragon-like monster. The list actually featured the department’s 500 most wanted  criminals.

“Come down to the station to capture Charizard,” the post stated. “Hurry before the Charizard leaves!”

The post went viral. As of Monday morning, it had garnered more than 27,000 “likes.” But Manchester Police Department Sgt. Eric Knight told The Associated Press that it had not yet resulted in any of the fugitives being taken into custody.

The “Pokemon Go” game has become one of the world’s popular apps  in the last week, generating almost as many headlines as it has downloads. On Saturday, a Florida homeowner opened fire on two teens  playing the game after mistaking them for burglars. Players have also rescued abandoned animals , discovered a naked woman vandalizing a church statue  and found a dead body  while hunting for virtual monsters.