Armed Robbers Blow Up Armored Truck in Brazen Highway Heist

The most shocking detail from Italy’s SS 613 highway heist wasn’t the explosives or the gunfire—it was that the crew still couldn’t get the cash.

Quick Take

Masked robbers shut down a major highway near Tuturano with burning vehicles and fake police tactics.
Explosives breached an armored cash van, but a security foam system stopped access to the money.
Carabinieri arrived fast, a firefight followed, and authorities arrested two suspects within about an hour.
The crew used spikes and carjacking to escape, signaling a highly rehearsed “highway bandit” playbook.
The incident fits a broader European trend of organized, paramilitary-style cash-in-transit attacks.

A morning commute turned into a controlled ambush on SS 613

Robbers picked their stage carefully: State Road 613, the Lecce–Brindisi artery in Puglia, where traffic volume and rural stretches can trap drivers with few exits. Around 8 a.m. on February 9, 2026, multiple masked assailants blocked the roadway with burning vehicles, creating a wall of heat, smoke, and panic. Reports described impersonation-style tactics, including police-like signals, to freeze motorists in place.

The target was an armored cash transport operated by the Battistolli Group, a name that matters because private security firms quietly compete on one promise: the cargo stays inaccessible even if criminals “win” the first minutes. The crew detonated explosives powerful enough to severely damage the van and, by some accounts, lift it from the road. The point wasn’t subtlety. The point was speed, dominance, and spectacle.

Explosives, rifles, and a bad surprise: security foam beats brute force

The heist unraveled at the exact moment it looked “successful.” Breaching an armored vehicle usually marks the payoff window, but cash-in-transit defenses now treat that moment as the trigger for denial systems. In this case, a foam security mechanism activated, smothering the interior and preventing access to the cash. That’s the part civilians often miss: modern armored vans aren’t just armored; they’re booby-trapped against theft in ways that don’t require a gunfight.

That foam turns a robbery into a messy, time-burning engineering problem, and time is the one resource highway crews can’t buy. Every added minute increases the odds of a coordinated response, a helicopter overhead, or a roadblock ahead. Criminals can plan the ambush, but they can’t plan the variable that matters most: how fast law enforcement closes the net when bullets start flying on a public road.

Carabinieri response time changed the math in real time

Carabinieri units responding from the Lecce area met the attackers in a firefight, with at least one police vehicle reportedly struck by gunfire. The outcome—no reported injuries—reads almost surreal given the weapons described, including Kalashnikov-style rifles and shotguns. That “miracle” framing shows up in coverage for a reason: highway attacks compress civilians, criminals, and police into a narrow corridor with almost no cover.

The crew’s escape plan signaled professional discipline. They allegedly scattered spikes to slow pursuit and carjacked motorists to switch vehicles, then abandoned a car in the countryside. This isn’t petty crime; it’s a drill. Conservative common sense says deterrence requires certainty of consequence, not just tougher headlines. When crews believe they can vanish into rural terrain after creating chaos, the state must prove—quickly—that the bill always comes due.

Two arrests within about an hour, and an open question about the rest

Authorities arrested two suspects on foot within roughly an hour as helicopters and checkpoints expanded the search. That speed matters: it tells copycat crews that “escape phase” improvisation won’t reliably beat coordinated policing. Reports suggested some suspects may be from the Foggia area, while others remained at large as the manhunt continued into the next day. Investigators also had to clear the highway as a crime scene, delaying normal life across the region.

The public takeaway shouldn’t be cinematic, even if the footage looks like a movie. The real cost is the ripple: motorists trapped amid explosions, businesses waiting on delayed cash services, and a lingering sense that ordinary roads can become a battlefield. The fact that no money was stolen doesn’t erase the terror tax imposed on everyone forced to sit still while armed men dictated the morning.

Why these “highway bandit” hits keep showing up across Europe

Italy has long dealt with organized crime groups skilled at logistics, surveillance, and intimidation, and southern corridors have repeatedly attracted cash-in-transit attention. Analysts tracking the pattern point to a broader European rise in coordinated highway robberies, including late-2025 incidents that reportedly netted major sums elsewhere in Italy. The tactics repeat because they work often enough: fire to immobilize traffic, fake authority to slow resistance, explosives to compress time.

Security technology is now the quiet hero—and the next battleground. Foam systems and other denial measures don’t just protect currency; they change incentives. If a crew can’t reliably access cash even after breaching, the risk-to-reward ratio collapses. That’s a victory for law-abiding society and for the conservative principle that systems should favor the innocent and punish predation. The open loop is whether criminals adapt faster than defenses.

WATCH: Gang of Armed Robbers Blow Open Armored Truck in Brazen Highway Heist https://t.co/0cdTxjR2mq

— Mediaite (@Mediaite) February 10, 2026

Puglia’s attack delivered a blunt lesson for policymakers and private security alike: stopping the money matters, but stopping the attempt matters more. Roads shouldn’t require courage to drive. The Carabinieri’s rapid response and the van’s denial tech prevented a payout, but the attempted takeover of a public highway shows what happens when criminals test the state’s resolve in broad daylight—and dare it to blink.