This is the bizarre moment a man takes off with a stolen 16-tonne road roller before selling it for scrap to pay his gambling debts in south-western China.

The man – named as Mr Li in local media – was caught driving off with the stolen machinery on CCTV camera in Chongqing Province.

Police tracked him down after having received reports about construction vehicles going missing from a local building site.

The footage shows a road roller being towed away with Mr Li apparently behind the wheel, before selling it off for CNY 32,000 (GBP 3,800).

But the law soon caught up with Li, who was quickly located and arrested and admitted to having an addiction to online gambling which caused him to rack up giant debts.

He claimed that after having passed by the construction site, he saw the parked road rollers and thought of the idea to steal one and sell it to pay off his debt.

Li also admitted to tricking the tow truck driver into allowing him to get behind the wheel before taking the 16-tonne road roller to the scrapping factory and selling it.

The case is currently being further investigated.