The police force on South Island, New Zealand ran the appeal in its latest newsletter, just below the results of a recent cross-country race, the Marlborough Express reports.

Ernie Buutveld, headmaster of Havelock Primary School, said 650 copies of the newsletter had been distributed locally.

The remote island is seen as an ideal location to grow cannabis, with 9,000 cannabis plants seized on its north-western coast last year.

Police also urged island residents to look out for “people in the bush who do not look like they are hunting or tramping”.