QINGDAO - A Chinese man was arrested for painting over a traffic surveillance camera six times.

The man from Qingdao in Shandong used a 5m long pole to paint over the camera, Thepaper.cn reported on Tuesday (June 13).

He first damaged the camera in March this year and continued to do it until he was caught on June 5.

Authorities were baffled at first, as a closed-circuit camera nearby caught no footage of what happened.

Workers staked out the traffic camera in May, but the offender did not appear.

Later, the police adjusted the angle of the CCTV and recorded footage of a man in a grey shirt painting over the camera with a long pole.

The man, surnamed Sun, said he was caught parking illegally eight times by the traffic camera.

Each time, he was fined 200 yuan (S$40) and given three demerit points.

Angry, he decided to 'blind' the camera, he told Chinese media.