Posing as government officials, the alleged thieves spent two days dismantling the 50-year-old iron bridge in a village in the eastern Indian state of Bihar, NDTV reports.

Villagers who witnessed the bizarre heist said they assumed the bridge was being dismantled as it was no longer in regular use.

Police have recovered an excavator used in the operation and around 247 kilograms of iron, which they believe was set to be sold off as scrap metal.

One of the eight suspects is a mid-ranking government official who is said to have helped to co-ordinate the bridge theft.