Thought It Was a Movie Scene... Rifle-Wielding Assailants Blow Up Cash Transport Vehicle on Italian Highway in Bomb Attack

Shootout Erupts During Getaway After Vehicle Explosion
Security System Activation Foils Cash Theft
Two Suspects Arrested, Accomplices Still at Large

On a highway in Italy, armed assailants attempted to hijack a cash transport vehicle in the middle of the road. The men, armed with rifles, even used explosives to blow up the vehicle, but failed to steal any cash because the security system was activated.

Footage of assailants blowing up a cash transport vehicle on an Italian highway. Yonhap News

On February 9 (local time), the British daily The Times reported that armed robbers carried out an attack targeting a cash transport vehicle on National Road 613, which connects Lecce and Brindisi in the southern Italian region of Puglia.

According to the report, the assailants, armed with Kalashnikov rifles, blocked the cash transport vehicle in the middle of the highway and detonated explosives. Video footage taken by nearby drivers shows at least six masked men getting out of several vehicles and moving in an organized manner.

Some of the assailants stood guard with firearms, while others approached the transport vehicle. Shortly afterward, an explosion sent smoke and debris into the air, causing severe damage to the rear door and roof of the vehicle. Some observers said the scene was reminiscent of the film "The Italian Job," which depicts a heist involving an armored cash vehicle in Italy, but this was an incident that unfolded in reality, not in a movie.

Right after the explosion, a scene that appeared to show the assailants moving items from inside the transport vehicle into a passenger car was also captured, but it was later confirmed that they failed to steal any cash. Colonel Christian Marello of the Italian military police, the Carabinieri, stated, "No cash in the vehicle was stolen," adding, "This was because a remotely controlled security system was activated immediately after the explosion."

According to the authorities, Carabinieri officers immediately pursued the fleeing robbers, and during the chase, a shootout broke out in which automatic rifles and shotguns were fired indiscriminately. Fortunately, there were no casualties among police officers or civilians.

Local media reported that two of the suspects were arrested at the scene on charges including attempted murder. The two men, reported to be 38 and 61 years old, were apprehended after abandoning their vehicle following the crime and attempting to flee across nearby fields. Investigators believe a total of eight people were involved in the crime and are tracking down the remaining accomplices who escaped.

Puglia, where the incident occurred, is cited as having the second-highest rate of attacks on cash transport vehicles among Italy's 20 regions. According to the Italian security guards' union, from 2019 to 2023, cash and valuables worth about 1.6 billion euros (approximately 2.8 trillion won) were stolen in such crimes.