Bandits in police uniforms steal US$550,000 from armored truck in east Baghdad

[Robbien]

Source: IHT/AP

Gunmen wearing police commando uniforms waylaid an armored truck on a major Baghdad street, overpowered the guards and made off with about a half-million dollars in Iraqi currency, police said.

The robbers on Wednesday set up a fake checkpoint with two police vehicles along the Mohammed al-Qassim highway in eastern Baghdad, the police said, flagged down the armored truck and offered to escort it to its destination in downtown Baghdad. Along the way, the estimated 10 gunmen forced the driver to pull over near a university campus, police said. There they handcuffed and gagged the truck's occupants — five guards, one accountant and a driver — and stole the money.

. . .

But gunmen dressed as police have been responsible for other crimes over the past two years, including the May 29 abduction of four British security guards and a consultant who were seized from the Finance Ministry compound. All five remain missing.

Last December, gunmen wearing military uniforms stopped a bank delivery truck in Baghdad and stole about US$1 million (€720,000). A week later, gunmen in military uniforms raided a Baghdad bank and got away with the equivalent of US$709,000, (€511,000) police said.

Read more: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/09/13/africa/ME-GEN-Iraq.php