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A 550-ton bridge in India has been stolen by a gang of thieves, Asian News International (ANI) news agency reported.
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The men dismantled the bridge in broad daylight, ANI reported.
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Two government employees and a local politician were later arrested, according to The Times of India.
A gang of thieves has stolen a 60-foot 550-ton bridge in northeastern India for its lucrative scrap value, according to Indian news agency Asian News International (ANI).
Police have arrested eight men, including two government employees, a police official said per ANI.
“We have arrested eight people, including an SDO (Subdivision Officer) from the Water Resources Department, in connection with the theft of the bridge,” Rohtas Police Commissioner Ashish Bharti said in a statement to ANI.
“The thieves stole the bridge in coordination with the SDO. We recovered a JCB, iron channels weighing approximately 247 kg and other equipment,” Bharti continued.
The iron bridge over Bihar’s Ara-Sone Canal, which was in a state of disrepair after being out of use since the early 2000s, was dismantled in three days from April 3, BBC News reported.
The gang wore government uniforms to avoid suspicion as they worked daily from 7am in broad daylight, using cutting torches and excavators to disassemble it, according to BBC News.
People in Amiyavar village were unaware of the theft, media reported. “No one suspected it was a robbery,” local journalist Jitendra Singh told the BBC.
In fact, the media reported that some villagers were happy that the disused bridge was finally removed.
A phone call to the irrigation department on April 5 by Pawan Kumar, a man from a nearby villager, was what alerted the police to the crime. Kumar contacted local officials to ask why procedures related to removing the bridge were not being followed, BBC News reported.
Police then launched an investigation and conducted raids after realizing authorities had not issued an order to dismantle the bridge, media said.
Eight people were arrested, including government officials and a local politician.
Radhe Shyam Sing, a sub-section officer, was arrested, according to The Times of India, as was Arvind Kumar, who worked part-time for the irrigation department and told passers-by the work carried an “official sanction,” according to the BBC.
Among those arrested was Shivkalyan Bhardwaj, a bloc-level leader of the Indian socialist party Rashtriya Janata Dal, The Times of India reported.
Four of the other men arrested worked in the scrap metal industry. Selling scrap metal to illegal factories can be a very profitable business in India, according to Reuters.
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