KEY POINTS:
As a mother made a tearful plea for her fugitive son to give himself up, fearing he may be shot and killed during his capture, five armed police officers arrived at her home and searched the property.
While one senior policeman stood speaking to the householders, another armed officer searched the Tokoroa house, including two rooms where infants were sleeping.
Three other policemen searched the property around the house, opening car boots, a garage door and over-turning a bathtub outside.
"I only think they were respectful because you [a reporter and photographer] were here, I'll say that," said Wendy Badawi, mother of one of the escapers.
Samuel Peter Badawi, 17, and David John Body, 18, escaped from the youth unit of Waikeria prison last Thursday in what was a well-planned bid for freedom.
Body was arrested yesterday in Te Kuiti without incident, but Badawi is yet to be found.
Police had said the pair were dangerous and should not be approached as they were possibly armed.
Mrs Badawi said her son was a danger only to himself and "not at all violent".
"We really want to appeal to him to give himself up, this is not a game."
Her son had phoned her at the weekend to say he was okay and that he had split from Body. He had given an assurance to his mother, step-father Steve and sister Danyelle that he was no longer armed.
But the detective who yesterday interrupted the Herald interview with the family told Mrs Badawi police could not regard her son as unarmed.
Despite the car being found abandoned in a New Plymouth supermarket at the weekend, no weapons had been recovered.
"Sam told us there were not two guns, there were three guns, that there was an air rifle as well," Steve Badawi said. "The .22 did not have a bolt action and the 12-gauge, they did not take any ammunition."
"He told us that he had left them [the guns] in New Plymouth," Mrs Badawi said.
The two are suspected of committing a burglary soon after their escape in which a car, a chequebook, clothes and the guns were taken.
Mrs Badawi said her son had bush skills, picked up on one of the correctional courses he had done over the past five years while under the care of Child, Youth and Family and various foster parents.
Badawi was described as "car-mad", "smart", "arrogant", "a survivor". Many of his convictions related to cars or burglary, his family said.
