Can you solve the MYSTERY in this story?

[AviatorTom]

This is an old story that takes place at a factory.

One day, a man left work pushing a wheelbarrow full of dirt. As he passed the security guard at the shop exit, he was stopped, and the suspicious guard searched through the dirt, looking for something the man was stealing. He found nothing, and waved the man though.

A few days later, the same man did it again, and once again the guard found nothing. This went on for a couple months. Every few days, the same man would push a wheelbarrow full of dirt, and the guard never found anything.

Finally, after several months, they figured out what was happening.

Can you figure it out?

Updates

+1 y

I was surprised that so many people got this right.
The guy is stealing wheelbarrows!

This is sometimes used as a question at security and cyber-security seminars, to try to get people to think outside the box, because that's what criminals and hackers do.

[ArrowheadSW]

He was digging a tunnel in order to steal stuff and bring it through the tunnel. Maybe? If there is a guardhouse that he has to pass through, it is assumed that the factory makes something that a dishonest person might want to steal.

[Jaximus-Lion]

He was stealing the wheelbarrows 🤣. I remember my grandpa telling me this when i was a kid.

[purplepoppy]

He was stealing wheelbarrows. Didn't something similar happen during the first World War with carts crossing some check point.

[bzcxx]

Yeah! I’ve heard this stories in so many different variations. Last I heard it was about motorcycles driving past immigration.

[OlderAndWiser]

He was stealing wheelbarrows.

[Astarlessnightsky]

Either stealing something and smuggling it somewhere less suspicious, like his pockets or backpack the wheelbarrow was only there to distract the guards

Or stealing the wheelbarrows.

Or digging a tunnel.

[Chazmatazz269]

Someone doesn’t know the value of dirt, apparently. Second only to religion, more wars have been waged over soil than any other point in human history.

[MCheetah]

He was digging an escape tunnel? Or digging his own grave and they found him dead, lying in it?

[exitseven]

I was a wheelbarrow factory and rthe guy was stealing wheelbarrows.

[exitseven]

I thought I was being clever but everyone else said the same thing. damn,

[NathanDavis]

probably stealing wheelbarrows... lol

[NamerOfStars]

Yes- he was stealing wheelbarrows.

[Andres77]

Dug a tunnel to the bank next door?