A gang of crafty scrap metal thieves dismantled and decamped with a 500-tonne defunct iron bridge in eastern India, police said on Saturday, pulling off the unlikely heist by pretending to be irrigation officials.
The robbing of the bridge was reported on Wednesday in the state of Bihar, one of the poorest in the country.
Police officer Subhash Kumar said the thieves came in the guise of government irrigation officials.
They brought bulldozers and gas cutters and tore apart the structure before escaping with the booty over two days, Kumar said.“They took away the scrap in a heavy vehicle,” he said. The thieves had been chipping away at the 50-year-old structure — built over a water canal — ever since another bridge nearby was opened to the public five years ago.
Police launched an investigation into the bizarre incident on Thursday but no arrests have been made so far.
The Bihar Police on Sunday arrested eight persons including a Sub Divisional Officer (SDO) of the water resources department in connection with the theft of the 60-foot abandoned bridge in the Rohtas district, an official said.
Police have recovered one JCB, stolen iron channels weighing about 247 kilograms and other material from the possession of the accused.
"We have arrested eight persons including an SDO officer of the water resources department in connection with the theft of the bridge. The thieves stole the bridge in connivance with the SDO. We have recovered one JCB, stolen iron channels weighing about 247 kgs and other material," Ashish Bharti, Rohtas SP told ANI.
A gang of thieves who posed as state irrigation department officials had pulled off an extraordinary heist by stealing a 60-foot abandoned bridge in Bihar's Rohtas district in full public view.According to the police, the thieves arrived with JCBs, pickup vans, gas cutters, and vehicles, and in 3 days cut off the entire bridge and disappeared.
