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A 500-tonne, 18m bridge in India was stolen by thieves posing as government officials, reported The Hindu.
The 45-year-old structure, made out of iron, was the subject of a police report lodged on Apr. 8, after some residents from the village of Amiyawar in the Rohtas district of Bihar noticed that it had gone missing.
“Even three days ago, the structure of the bridge was there but suddenly it disappeared and we informed local officials,” said one resident quoted by The Hindu.
The bridge was apparently dismantled over two days by men posing as State Irrigation Department officials who were replacing the decaying structure with a new one.
Adding to the confusion, an application to have the bridge removed had previously been submitted to the aforementioned department.
A lucrative business
According to Reuters, the thieves used gas cutters and earthmoving machinery to break down the bridge.
The stolen materials were then likely sold as scrap metal — a common and sometimes lucrative business in India.
Reuters reported that several members of the bridge-stealing gang had been identified by local law enforcement.
"They destroyed public property and stole a bridge,” said Subash Kumar, a police official probing the case.
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Top image from The Hindu