Do you know this man? Infra-red CCTV footage captured this man stealing a range of high-end electronic gear from a hobby store in East Tamaki.

A burglar has stolen $30,000 of electronic equipment from an Auckland hobby store, including a custom-built drone worth nearly $10,000.

Hobby Station, a shop in East Tamaki specialising in remote controlled devices, caught the man on camera as he pillaged their showroom.

Employee James Hsieh said the offender had used a crowbar to pry open the front door late on Friday 27, and spent around five minutes grabbing items off the shelves.

CHARLES PLATIAU/REUTERS A high-end drone much like this DJI 'Phantom 2' was among the items stolen from Hobby Station.

He was wearing a hoodie and shorts, and had tattoos on his calf muscles.

Hsieh said the store suspected the man had been there "a couple of times before" to scope out items to steal.

The most valuable item taken was a "very expensive" one-of-a-kind hexacopter, a flying drone with six rotors. The drone was worth around $10,000 and had taken around 100 hours to build. Losing it was "an inconvenience," Hsieh said.

The burglar also stole several other valuable drones, as well as batteries, toys and other electronic gear.

Hsieh hoped the culprit would be caught when he tried to on-sell the drones, which were "very unique".

"Only a handful of places sell them in New Zealand," he said.

The store, which recently moved to the area, had beefed up its security to prevent a similar incident happening.

Counties Manukau Police are investigating the incident. Detective Senior Sergeant Kevin Tiernan said he was most interested in the man's tattoos, or if anyone saw the drones for sale.

Anyone with information should contact police or call call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.