Gang lock down a whole village in £3m gold raid

The theft took place in Poggio Bagnoli, a small village in the Chianti area of Tuscany popular with British holidaymakers.

Using heavy machinery stolen from the local council and "road closed" signs, the gang blocked off all access to the hamlet where gold depot SALP is located.

They used a digger to smash down an outside wall and then drove it through another building to reach a safe, which was scooped up inside the bucket and then driven away.

Police raced to the scene after alarms were triggered, but found all the roads blocked with the machinery - which had all had their tyres slashed, taking up valuable time and allowing the gang to make their getaway cross-country.

Police say the gang was made up of about ten people and among the stolen vehicles used were a school bus, a lorry, two council cars and a traffic warden's car.

Officials say that 100kg of gold was taken - with the current price per kilogram being 28,333 .

The raid, which happened in the early hours of Tuesday, is said to have taken a little under 30 minutes, and yesterday scenes-of-crime officers were at the scene looking for clues and fingerprints.