Man threw "irritating" Nijntje toy in trash sparking hours long police search

A man from Almere said he was the person responsible for an hours long police search on Friday. Authorities were looking for anyone involved in an incident that led to four police units spending a long time searching for someone calling out, "Yoo-hoo. Here I am. Come find me."

Police scoured a garbage and raw materials collection site in Almere Haven looking for the the source of the playful pleas. A hide-and-seek Nijntje toy caused all the fuss, police discovered.

The Almere man visited a police station voluntarily to let them know he meant no harm. He had thrown the toy in the recycling container because it was getting on his nerves. "I threw the irritating toy in the plastic container just a day before," the man told Omroep Flevoland.

"We hadn't even had the toy in our house for a week when it wouldn't stop making sounds," the man said.

He apologized to authorities for causing the false alarm.