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Army officer 'tried to smuggle tank'

It’s not quite the same as taking a stapler from the office… A Bulgarian army officer has been arrested after he allegedly tried to smuggle a tank out of the country. Major Alexei Petrov had reportedly stolen the WWII German Panzer IV tank from a military garrison in Elchovo, near the Turkish border.

Although worthless to the army the ancient tank is worth a fortune to collectors, especially to WWII enthusiasts keen to snap up anything to do with the war.

He was caught by secret service agents who had been tracking him for months and who discovered he had already managed to ship another similar tank to the West. He was arrested along with two German accomplices, who it is believed had brokered a deal worth tens of thousands of pounds with war memorabilia collectors.Â

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .