In an unusual theft, three large blue U.S. Postal Service mail collection boxes were stolen in St. Paul and later found.

They had been cut open, though it’s not known if mail was stolen from them.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is asking anyone with tips or people who suspect they’ve been a victim of mail theft to contact them at 888-876-5322 or file a report at uspis.gov.

Theft of such mail collection boxes isn’t common, given the weight of the boxes and how they’re secured to the ground, said Rachel Williams, a U.S. Postal Inspection Service spokesperson.

The thefts happened sometime around the first week of January and the boxes were later found in St. Paul. The postal inspection service isn’t releasing the locations as the investigation continues, Williams said.

Last month, a St. Paul man was federally charged with the armed robbery of letter carriers for mailbox keys in Edina and Brooklyn Center. “Mailbox keys are valuable to criminals who use them to steal mail, cash, checks, and other financial instruments,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Minnesota said in a press release at the time.

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