An unemployed man in St. Petersburg has been detained after reportedly dismantling 275 metric tons of railway tracks over the past month.
The city’s transport police said it caught the 38-year-old suspect red-handed in a municipality southeast of the city center.
“The woebegone mechanic dismantled more than 275 metric tons of metal products with a wrench and a crowbar,” transport police said in a statement Wednesday.
The unnamed culprit faces up to five years behind bars and an 80,000 ruble ($1,250) fine on charges of theft.
St. Petersburg’s Fontanka.ru news website estimated that the 275 metric tons of tracks could be sold for 5 million rubles ($79,000), citing scrap metal price listings.
