Armed assault in Sassari, commando hunt for 20 bandits

SASSARI, JUNE 29 – The police hunt continues throughout northern Sardinia and in the province of Nuoro for the armed commando who last night attacked the vault of the Mondialpol surveillance institute in Caniga, on the outskirts of Sassari, shooting at height of man against a carabinieri car, which was riddled with bullets, and against a traffic police patrol, which rushed to the scene. The investigations, conducted by the Flying Squad of the Sassari police headquarters, are trying to reconstruct the gang’s movements before and after the robbery. At the moment it is known that the commando was made up of around twenty bandits armed with Kalashnikovs, dressed in black and wearing bulletproof jackets, shortly before 8.30 pm they pulled an excavator up to the wall surrounding the Mondialpol headquarters in Caniga, and taking advantage of the arm length of the mechanical vehicle tore up a grill on the facade and broke through the wall of the building. While two criminals operated the mechanical vehicle, at least six using a ladder climbed over the fence and entered the Mondialpol headquarters, shooting into the air to scare the security guards. Several shots were also fired against the surveillance sentry box and the agent inside was saved thanks to the bulletproof glass. The bandits took 5 or six bags containing money, probably money intended for the payment of pensions in a few days: the size of the loot has not yet been quantified. The bags were taken out with the arm of the excavator and loaded onto a white Fiat Ducato van, in which the gang fled towards Cagliari. While the robbery was in progress, a carabinieri patrol and a traffic police patrol, from opposite directions, reached the Mondialpol headquarters and the bandits did not hesitate to riddle the cars with bullets, shooting at eye level. Other members of the commando, it is estimated at least a dozen, blocked all the main access roads to the Caniga area, setting cars on fire and covering the asphalt with nails. In this way they delayed the arrival of the police and covered their escape.