Sculpture disappears after drone appears to scope out property

An Auckland woman suspects thieves used a drone to scope out her property, before stealing a sculpture.

A steel sculpture once stood guard outside Tina Hart's West Auckland house, but a day ago, it went missing. It disappeared just after Ms Hart spotted a rogue drone hovering close to her window.

She believes the drone was scoping out the property.

"I thought how dare it, who is it, and why is it looking," said Ms Hart. "Even at night I'm worried now. I shut all the curtains. It's changed the way we live".

She's now calling for stricter laws to protect people's privacy if drones are flying over head.

The Civil Aviation Authority says the highest numbers of complaints about drones are relating to those flown over people's properties without consent  which is against the rules.

Under New Zealand law police have no power to do anything other than forward the complaint on to the Civil Aviation Authority who can fine someone up to $5000 for breaching the rules - but that's only if they can find them.

Newshub.