Thieves in the Chinese capital of Beijing stole 4,000 manhole covers and sold them for scrap metal last year.
The loss was a sharp fall from the 24,000 manhole covers that went missing in 2004, but still left city streets and sidewalks hazardous.
Thieves can get up to 20 yuan from scrap dealers for each manhole cover, equivalent to the daily wage of some migrant workers.
The rampant theft of the covers has also led authorities to make them out of non-recyclable and non-metallic materials.
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