KEY POINTS

  • Italian thieves attempted to rob an armored vehicle
  • The gang burned cars and spilled nails along the highway
  • They also rammed the vehicle with a tractor trailer
  • The driver evaded the traps and police intervened

A gang of thieves attempted to trap an armored vehicle by burning cars and spilling nails along the highway but was foiled when the driver evaded them.

The attempted robbery occurred along a highway near Milan on Tuesday night and a dozen cars and trucks were set ablaze along in either direction of the highway, Euronews reported.

The attackers also rammed the vehicle with a tractor trailer but the plot was foiled when the driver of the armored vehicle pulled into a rest area and police patrol in the area arrived on the scene.

The gang remains at large.

According to The Associated Press, a similar incident happened in 2014 along the same highway when armed robbers burned a barrier and took off with five million euros.

Robbery
Around 31,000 people reported "smash and grab" robberies in the city last year in San Francisco. In this photo, the shattered window of a car struck by a bullet is visible outside a branch of Postbank bank after an attempted robbery that left one guard dead in Berlin, Germany, Oct. 29, 2007. Getty Images/ Sean Gallup