The snatcher, or snatchers - as there may be more than one - has been pinching waymarks from a remote spot on the 83-mile Snowdonia Slate Trail, putting walkers at risk of wandering off the path in misty weather into the mire.
Nobody can fathom what the motive might be.
The financial value of the 1.5-metre (5ft) posts and plastic signs can hardly be worth the bother of venturing half a mile from the nearest road, presumably in an off-road vehicle, to take them away.
If it's vandalism, then why bother to take them off the moor rather than just damaging them in situ? And local people cannot think that anyone has such a grudge against the path - Welsh name: Llwybr Llechi Eryri - a blameless route around what was once a global capital of the slate industry, that they would target its signs.
"It's a mystery," said Aled Owen, a founder of the trail and the author of its guidebook.
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