Police in eastern India said a group of scrap metal thieves destroyed and fled with a 500-ton derelict iron bridge while claiming to be irrigation personnel.

Bihar is one of the country’s poorest states, and a bridge robbery was reported on Wednesday.

Thieves disguised themselves as government irrigation personnel, according to police officer Subhash Kumar, speaking to AFP.

It took them two days to demolish the building with bulldozers and gas cutters before making off with the loot, according to Kumar.

“They used a large van to remove the scrap,” he stated.

Since another bridge nearby was opened to the public five years ago, the thieves have begun chipping away at the 50-year-old span, constructed over a water canal.

The unusual event was investigated by police on Thursday, but no arrests have yet been made.

[embedpost slug=”/australia-deploys-minister-to-the-solomon-islands/”]