Thieves dress in NATO outfits, steal $1.3 million

Thieves masquerading as NATO soldiers stole a million euros ($1.3 million) from a Bosnian security van on the last day of the alliance’s peace mission in the country on Wednesday.

The robbers, wearing the insignia of NATO’s outgoing Stabilization Force (SFOR), set up a checkpoint on a highway in northwestern Bosnia and stopped an armored van hauling cash for the Raiffeisen Bank, the daily Nezavisne Novine reported.

The gang of five handcuffed security guards escorting the cash and left them in the back of the van, the newspaper added.

The robbery was staged on the eve of NATO’s handover of the 9-year-old peacekeeping mission to a new European Union force, called EUFOR. Police declined to comment.