The 10 weirdest things that have ever been stolen

1. A bridge – Not the easiest item to try and sell for scrap metal without raising a few eyebrows. However thieves in Khabarovsk, Russia, didn’t seem to think that through when they swiped a 38-foot long steel bridge overnight without anyone realising what had happened.

2. A beach – Easy to nick from an empty UK beach in the winter, maybe – but in 2007 half a mile of beach in Jamaica was lifted, and seemingly no one knew how or when. Hard to believe when it was estimated that 500 dump trucks would have been needed. The only explanation is that it was swiped for use on a rival beach.

3. Hair loss treatment – Mark Hoousendove, a 42-year-old New York man, really wanted a full head of hair. So much so that he allegedly lifted five packages of baldness remedy Rogaine from a local pharmacy. He was charged with petty larceny and resisting arrest.

4. The Holy Communion – A 33-year-old man called Jonathan Ricci allegedly grabbed a handful of communion wafers and tried to run off with them at a catholic church in Florida. He was arrested after churchgoers prevented him from escaping.

5. A 3,000 pound bell – Another one for the scrap metal dealers, perhaps. But to steal a bell of that size from a monastery without making a noise? You know, like bells have a tendency to do. Police allegedly said you’d have to be superman with a forklift to do it.

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6. A 57-ton tank – Strange to imagine that a vehicle which is designed to destroy anything in its way could just vanish without being heard, but Shawn Nelson managed to steal an M60 Patton Tank from his local National Guard armoury using just a crowbar. As a tank isn’t the easiest vehicle to stop, the ensuing police chase only ended when Nelson got the tank suck on a barrier on the highway.

7. A front lawn – Poor Denise Thompson went from having a beautiful green garden to a big patch of brown mud after nipping out for the morning. Neighbours said they had seen a big white truck outside her house but didn’t think it was suspicious – just a landscaping job.

8. A life-size ET model – A pensioner from Portsmouth was stunned when her life-size, three-foot replica of the alien was stolen from her home. Margaret Wells, aged 76, was equally astounded when a year later, the coastguard received a call about a body in the sea... which turned out to be her ET replica.

9. A 350 pound inflatable gorilla – Nicked from a car dealership in California, the owner was flabbergasted when it was there one minute and not the next. He admitted it did deflate occasionally, but to have away with it would take a number of people.

10. A live shark – One half of the only breeding pair of marble shark in the UK, the two-foot shark was kept in its owner’s back garden in a large brick shed. Peter Newman only noticed it was gone when the saw the shed open and lights on inside. He said the thieves would have needed a ladder to get the pet, worth £2,500, out.