Cheeky kea flies off with passport

A Scottish tourist's passport was inside a courier bag snatched from a bus by a kea this week. Photo / Greg Bowker

A brazen thief stole a British man's passport but Te Anau police are not pursing an arrest or attempting to recover the document.

A Scottish man reported the audacious theft of his passport from a bus heading into Milford Sound this week, the Southland Times reported.

A kea swiped his passport from a coloured courier bag when the bus stopped at the Chasm on the Milford road.

When the driver was in a compartment beneath the bus, the bird swooped down, grabbed the bag and flew off into the bush.

The unidentified Scotsman said "I did take it with humour but obviously there is one side of me still raging".

The passport is very unlikely to be returned.

A replacement from the British High Commission in Wellington could take as long as six weeks and cost up to $400.

- NZPA