Maybe there’s riches in Brooklyn’s gutters! 

Cops captured three suspected scallywags on a Bensonhurst street who in broad daylight were seen donning, headlamps, Day-Glo vests, and heavy duty tools (everything but the lunchpails); and then after ripping-off a manhole cover descended into a street sewer.

Only they weren’t bonafide city transportation servants mending the roads. 

Shawan Thompson, 26, far, far away from his Bronx home, along with Willie Green, 29,  and Zion McKenzie, 25, — both Brooklynites — were nabbed after their suspected ploy was exposed.  When pressed about what they were up to by cops the suspects gave almost implausible answers. 

One allegedly blabbed, “Looking for treasure,” according to law enforcement sources.

Another reportedly mused, “I was hired to clean the sewer.”

The subterranean subterfuge occurred  around 5 p.m. on a busily-trafficked Wednesday when the pretender transit workers were seen removing a man cover with a hooked tool from 82nd Street near 17th Avenue.  A Good Samaritan observed the intrusion and dialed for help. 

Both Green and McKenzie ventured below with two unnamed cohorts.  That left Thompson allegedly standing lookout, the papers say. Cops were able to secure CCTV footage of the faux transportation men entering Brooklyn’s bowels from a nearby home adjacent to the compromised manhole and took three of the five into custody. Two other assailants in the alleged sewer break-in remain outstanding, according to the criminal complaint reviewed by the Sun.

While cops remain stumped as to the intentions behind the episode, there appears to be no apparent terror connection to the sewer intrusion.  But it triggered a robust police response.  The three netted men were charged with burglary, possession of burglary tools, trespass and criminal nuisance. 

The charge details unlawful conduct committed “knowingly or recklessly” to create conditions that would endanger the well-being of “a considerable number” of people.

When walked out of the police precinct, the daisy-chained suspects were seen chuckling for the press cameras. At arraignment on Wednesday, all three were released on their own recognizance, prosecutor officials confirmed. Each is slated to return to court on the first week of August, court records show.