Berlin – Thefts of railway lines and manhole covers for sale as scrap are nothing new in Germany. But the disappearance of 2 kilometres of motorway central divider near Frankfurt over the weekend is a first for German police.

The four-metre-long strips of metal, each weighing 40 kilograms, were stolen from a service area in Vierheim where they had been stored during maintenance work on the A6 autobahn. Police said Monday they were puzzled how the thieves were able to escape with their 20-ton load without anyone noticing. A large truck with a lifting device was needed to transport the 500 metal strips, a police spokesman said.

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