Police say a man stole $1.6million in gold flakes from the back of a truck in the middle in Manhattan.

The man was captured on CCTV walking past the unguarded pail twice before stopping and looking at it thoughtfully.

Footage then shows him grabbing the pail from the van and running away with it down the street.

Scroll down for video

Caught gold-handed: Police are looking for this man, who they say stole $1.6m of gold flakes from the back of a truck in the middle of Manhattan at the end of September

Golden opportunity: Police captured the man on video. In the footage he walks past the truck, loops around to take a better look, and stands for a moment, apparently pondering his crime

The daring crime occurred in broad daylight on West 48th Street in New York City's busy Midtown area.

Footage from the theft shows a man walking along the treet and then loitering around the truck, which was open at the back.

And when he thinks nobody is watching, he reaches into the vehicle and lifts down the heavy bucket containing the gold flakes.

Afterwards, he is captured on camera hurrying along the sidewalk as he struggles with the stolen goods.

It is believed that the guard briefly stopped watching over the truck and went into its cab to retrieve his cellphone when the theft took place.

Take the flakes: The man then reaches up and grabs the five-gallon bucket of gold flakes, before walking off into the street

Gold fingers: The sticky-fingered gent then walks up the street - visibly struggling with the 86lbs of flakes he's just pilfered. He's now believed to be in Florida

At one point, he even places the five-gallon bucket on the ground, to give his arms a rest from the heavy load.

But after a short rest, he picks up the bucket again and disappears into across the street.

Police say the thief lugged the gold flakes up the street, taking an hour to complete what would normally be considered a ten-minute walk.

He then hopped into a white van and fled. Officers say they believe the thief didn't know what was contained in the bucket.