AN exhausted pair of pranksters needed police help to drag a giant metal cockroach they had moved six metres along Rundle Mall early this morning.

About 2.45am, police were called to the mall after the men were seen on CCTV cameras dragging the metal sculpture, which has sat in the mall since a social media campaign last year.

The cockroach, which had sat in a paddock alongside Port Wakefield Rd at Lower Light since the late 1990s, was bought by television host Andrew ‘Cosi’ Costello for two slabs of beer late last year.

Thousands of people joined a Facebook campaign to save the popular cockroach from scrap metal and to place it in Rundle Mall.

When police arrived at the scene this morning, the men were exhausted from their efforts and needed help from officers to drag it back to its proper place.

The prank came at a hefty cost as police slapped each with a $560 fine for disorderly behaviour in the vicinity of a licensed premises.

The cockroach was unharmed.