Burning Bridges: Metal Thieves Steal 10-Ton Bridge

How easy is it to steal a 10-ton bridge? Very easy, as was the case in the Czech Republic.

It seems a group of very crafty metal thieves concocted a rather simple plan: pretend to be part of a demolition crew contracted by the state to tear down a pedestrian footbridge over a length of unused railroad tracks to make way for a new bicycle route. The plan worked, and the metal thieves quickly took to task dismantling the steel bridge, working tirelessly until the (devilish) deed was done.

After the bridge and over 650 feet of railroad track had been taken away, city officials soon discovered that there had been no order or contract to take down the bridge, and that they had been duped by some clever grifters who were only interested in selling the remnants of the bridge and railroad track for scrap to make some quick, dishonest money!

Now, the poor town is without a pedestrian bridge and new cycling route, not to mention potentially millions that the scrap metal would have brought to the city's coffers!

The Rising Tide: Detergent Theft on the Rise

It would seem that thieves really want to take retailers to the cleaners...by stealing hundreds of millions of dollars worth of laundry detergent!

The detergent thieving has become so rampant in some cities that special task forces have been assembled to put a stop to the clean freak thievery. In St. Paul, Minnesota, one particularly talented thief has been accused of stealing more than $25,000 of the suds over the course of a year. Some crooks work in tandem, rounding up a cart full of Tide and rolling it out the emergency exit doors where an accomplice is waiting with the get-away car.

Apparently, there is a growing black market for the detergent, as the cost of the product continues to go higher by the day. With the average cost of a bottle now at over $15 nationwide, thieves are stealing the detergent and illicitly re-selling it on the street, bringing in big bucks. As there are no serial numbers on the bottles, they are impossible to track.

As least we know that America's thieves are clean as the economy continues to sink into the crapper!