Two men have been arrested in New York after wheeling a dead friend propped up in an office chair through busy streets to a check-cashing outlet in an attempt to cash his social security payment.

The apparent plan to cash Virgilio Cintron's $355 (£180) welfare check, even though the 66 year old had recently died, was foiled after an off duty policeman spotted a crowd which had gathered around the seated corpse.

David J. Dalaia and James O'Hare were arrested yesterday outside the Pay-O-Matic store in the Hell's Kitchen district of Manhattan after pushing Cintron's body from the apartment they shared about a block away, police said.

"Hell's Kitchen has a rich history but this is one for the books," police spokesman Paul Browne was quoted as saying by the New York Times.

"The witnesses saw the two pushing the chair with Cintron flopping from side to side and the two individuals propping him up," he explained.

On arriving at the store, the men left Cintron's body outside and went in to try and cash his cheque, Browne said. However, a member of staff knew Cintron and asked where he was. O'Hare said he would go and get him.

By this time a detective having lunch in a restaurant next to the cheque-cashing store noticed a crowd forming around Cintron's body. He went to investigate, Browne said, and it was "immediately apparent to him that Cintron [was] dead".

The detective called uniformed colleagues and they and an ambulance crew arrived as O'Hare and Dalaia were preparing to wheel Cintron's body into the store. The duo, both aged 65, were arrested on suspicion of fraud.

It appeared that Cintron had died from natural causes at the apartment shared by O'Hare and Dalaia within the previous 24 hours, police said.