NZ's dumbest criminal?

Having a fire extinguisher explode in his face wasn't enough to deter a burglar from breaking into a Christchurch business on Christmas Day.

The robber was caught on CCTV entering a business in Ferrymead, just off Ferry Rd. The footage shows the man, dressed in a green t-shirt and white cap, standing in front of the door for almost a minute before deciding to try to smash the window with a fire extinguisher.

But the extinguisher bounced back and went off.

After running from the room to avoid the smoke from the extinguisher, he emerged shortly later to douse it with a liquid, believed to be water.

The business is now appealing to the popular Game Planet forum for help in identifying the man.

"Given the large community here I am hoping someone in the Christchurch area recognizes this scumbag and can give some help as to who he is, cheers!" user Weetbicks wrote.

The user later said police had fingerprints but might not be able to identify the burglar.

It was likely that nobody was around at the time, Weetbicks wrote.

"I figure he had scoped it out pretty well beforehand, also a good chance the alarm wouldn't have been able to be heard from Ferry Rd either."