Ananova:

Police in Wisconsin say a trail of chewing tobacco spit led them to two men accused of stealing a safe from a pub.

The pair have been charged with stealing a safe containing $3,000 in cash and beer tokens from a bar in the island town of Campbell.

The heavy safe, which had been bolted to a kitchen worktop, was carried off but the nearby key was left untouched, reports the La Crosse Tribune.

Police officers investigating the burglary were able to collect chewing tobacco spit that led away from the tavern.

DNA from the spit matched a 21-year-old man, from nearby La Crosse, who was promptly arrested.

From the La Crosse County Jail, he called a woman and asked that she get rid of the safe, which he thought was still in the boot of the car she was storing for him.

In fact, a fisherman had found the safe and a tavern voucher for a six-pack of beer on a sandbar in the Kaskaskia River.

A search of the car produced a receipt to another La Crosse man, also 21, from the day after the burglary for a hotel room about 30 miles from where the safe had been abandoned.

The arrested man confessed to the burglary, saying the second man invited him on Facebook to take part in the crime.