Attribute to Detective Senior Sergeant Callum McNeill, Waitemata Police:
Police search and rescue personnel continue to search the Waitakere ranges as efforts continue to locate missing French teen Eloi Rolland.
Eloi was last seen on the morning of Saturday 7th March and cellphone records indicate he was in the area of Piha Road at 9.18am that morning.
Despite countless searches and numerous public appeals for information, unfortunately there has been no confirmed sightings of him since then.
Police can now confirm that the t-shirt found in the bush in Karekere last month does not belong to Eloi, after a local resident came forward and claimed ownership of the shirt, which they had taken off during a bush walk.
Despite being two months since Eloi was last seen, Police search and rescue efforts are still continuing and more than 1600 hours of searching has been carried out to date.
Search and rescue staff have now covered the majority of tracks within the Waitakere ranges, including all open tracks and roadways.
Police are aware that civilian searches have also been taking place in these same areas, and are planned again for this weekend.
Police appreciate the concern and good intentions shown by those in our community who have been searching for Eloi, however under the Alert Level 3 restrictions we ask that local residents search only their own sections and stick to their bubbles.
All open tracks and roadways that are open to the public, which have been the areas of focus in the public searches, have already been covered by Police search and rescue.
There are a number of restrictions currently in place in the Waitakere ranges including a large number of walking tracks that are closed, with off track activity also not permitted due to Kauri dieback. These areas can only be searched by Police search and rescue teams.
Due to these restrictions, Police do not want to risk members of the public getting lost and subsequently putting themselves at risk of needing to be rescued, and we would appreciate if the search is left to our highly-trained specialist search staff.
ENDS
Nick Baker/NZ Police
