Police urge public not to search Waitakere Ranges for missing teen Eloi Rolland

Eloi Rolland was in New Zealand to learn English. Photo / Supplied

The public have been warned not to search the Waitakere Ranges for missing French teen Eloi Rolland.

Police search and rescue continue to search the ranges for the 18-year-old, who hasn't been seen since the morning of March 7. Cellphone records indicated he was in the area of Piha Rd at 9.18am that day.

Despite many searches and numerous public appeals for information, there have been no confirmed sightings of Rolland since March 7.

But police continue to search, Detective Senior Sergeant Callum McNeill, of Waitematā, said.

And while well-intentioned, he urged the public not to embark on their own searches.

They could risk diverting emergency services if something went wrong and they needed to be rescued, he said.

"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.

"We would appreciate if the search is left to our highly-trained specialist search staff."

French teenager Eloi Rolland at Auckland Zoo two days before he went missing. Photo / Supplied

All open tracks and roadways open to the public, which have been the areas of focus in the public searches, had already been covered by police search and rescue, McNeill said.

"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 could also now confirm the T-shirt found in the bush in Karekere last month didn't belong to Rolland. A local resident had come forward to say they'd taken off the T-shirt during a bush walk, McNeill said.

Rolland, who lived with a host family in Birkenhead after coming to New Zealand in September to study English, had told his family he was lonely and homesick.

He had planned to return to France this month.