LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — Thieves who made off with a $50,000 statue of Jesus from outside a church in California were being pursued by police on Thursday.

The bronze sculpture was cut off at its feet using a power tool, police said, before being loaded into a vehicle at the church in Santa Ana, southeast of Los Angeles.

A photograph released by the local police department shows a pair of disembodied bronze feet on the plinth where the statue had once stood, next to a still-intact cast of John the Baptist.

Detectives say the crime took place on August 30 in the middle of the night.

“Two male suspects wearing dark clothing entered Christ Our Saviour Catholic Church,” the Santa Ana Police Department announced on Facebook.

“One suspect retrieved an electric cutting tool from the bag, and both suspects began cutting the $50,000 bronze statue of Jesus.

“The suspects then dragged the statue through the property toward Segerstrom High School, where they are believed to have had a parked vehicle waiting. The suspects loaded the statue into the vehicle and drove away.”

Theft of metal is a growing problem in parts of the United States, with criminals often targeting valuable materials like copper.

Scrap metal dealers in Southern California currently pay around $4 per pound (half a kilogram) for bronze.