Owners of a 10-tonne Queensland landmark maintain it has been stolen, despite the police saying no report had been filed and the involvement of a Sydney advertising agency

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

The Bowen tourist information centre is adamant its giant mango has been stolen, despite police saying the theft had not been reported and several elements of the case suggesting a marketing stunt.

A three-storey, 10-tonne giant mango disappeared after thieves took off with it from the tourist information centre in Bowen, north Queensland, in the early hours of Tuesday morning, employees claimed.

When staff showed up for work on Monday morning it was nowhere to be seen. They assumed the $90,000 sculpture was in for maintenance but a call to the centre manager Paul McLaughlin revealed this was not the case.

“I came out [to the centre] immediately and sure enough the mango was gone,” McLaughlin said.

“As most people would be aware, this mango is three storeys high, about 10 metres high, and weighs seven to 10 tonnes, so it’s very surprising that it’s gone.”

CCTV footage shows a large, unmarked, mobile crane backing up at the direction of some disguised individuals. A statement from the Bowen Tourism office said the CCTV footage shows the “suspicious” crane driving past the office towards the big mango.

Employees at the tourist centre denied it was a hoax, despite no reports of the mango being spotted on the highway or anywhere else.

“Definitely not,” Christin Short told Guardian Australia when asked.

“I wish it was.”

However a “wanted” poster for the mango - which had a Facebook page created for it on Monday morning - has appeared on social media, with a local radio station’s logo in the corner.

A call to the station – which had reportedly broadcast the news of the theft throughout the day – was put through to the newsroom. Guardian Australia was directed to a recent tweet by one of the station’s journalists. No confirmation or denial of a hoax was forthcoming, but the station had stopped broadcasting the theft in its news bulletin.

Aaron Lucas (@AaronLucasBris) What's the real story behind the Bowen Mango? I suspect a non commercial journalist will have 2 expose it. #MangoGate pic.twitter.com/tPYIMemsSq

Metadata within the PDF file of a media release gave another clue – an author name of Banjo Advertising, a north Sydney advertising agency.

Laurence Cronin of Banjo Advertising told Guardian Australia the agency was helping out a friend with the media blitz to find the missing mango, but could not categorically deny it was a marketing stunt.

Bowen police told Guardian Australia the theft had not been reported to them so they were not investigating. Queensland police also said they were aware the mango was missing but no theft had been reported.

“No one in their right mind considered for a second that someone would take a giant … mango. It’s not like it’s something that can be easily hidden,” said McLaughlin.

Tyre marks near the site suggested the culprits headed south on the Bruce Highway, the tourist centre said. No one had claimed responsibility for the theft, nor had any sighting been reported.

The Bowen tourist centre said it was reviewing security footage and “hopefully in the near future we’ll find out what’s happened to it”.

The large mango, an attraction for visitors to Bowen, was erected in 2002 to celebrate the town’s claim of being the mango production capital of Australia.