Gangs of metal thieves are targeting rural roads in Angus during brazen midnight raids.
Police are appealing for witnesses after a criminal crew stole manhole covers worth £5,000 from a four-mile stretch near Forfar.
Six solid steel BT cabling covers were taken from the B9134 Lunanhead to Aberlemno road, in a theft thought to have taken place on Thursday night.
Officers believe they were lifted from verges and put into the back of a van or lorry.
The latest incident comes after drain covers worth £1,500 were stolen on the nearby B9127 Kirkbuddo road between June 7 and 10.
Attempts are still being made to trace thieves who dismantled and stole a double garage from an address in Forfar between May 28 and June 13.
Constable Gordon Peebles said the metal may have been smuggled out of the region for sale to unscrupulous scrap dealers.
“It’s a fairly organised thing and these people know the value of scrap metal is quite lucrative just now,” he said.
“The people who do this will travel the country committing exactly the same sort of crimes and will keep moving around. I would urge anybody who saw anything that could assist inquiries to get in touch.”
Forfar councillor Lynne Devine said thefts were taking money out of the public purse.
She added: “This is not a victimless crime. I think that whoever has done this has shown a total disregard for the safety of people using the road. It is a crime of greed.
“The amount of money it is going to cost the council has to be taken into account.”
The Scottish Government recently announced that the scrap metal industry is to be subject to new regulations aimed at clamping down on metal thefts.
Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill announced that any metal trader with an annual turnover of £1 million or less will require a licence.
It raises the exemption limit from the current level of £100,000, which has been deemed no longer fit for purpose.