The British guy called the police after he found it. (?????????) The police took it and gave him a receipt.
We’ll wait and see if he gets any of it.
Nick Mead, owner of Tanks-A-Lot and avid heavy vehicle collector, decided to purchase the $37,000 Chinese Type 69 tank after coming across it on eBay. This particular piece was modeled after the Russian T-54, which were sold in the nine year span from 1959-1968. During the Gulf War, Chinese manufacturers produced the tank in bulk and sold many to the Iraqi military during that time. He eventually bartered a retired British Army truck and Abbot self-propelled howitzer to the seller and brought his new piece home.
While disassembling the vehicle for restoration, mechanic Todd Chamberlain alerted Mead that he believed that one of the fuel tanks were filled with guns—a surprisingly-common occurrence when going through old military machinery. Per shop protocol, Mead grabbed a camera to ensure that they were safely covered should they recover any illegal firearms that they would be required to turn over to the police. Instead what the pair found were five gold bars weighing in at a whopping 68.5 pounds, are valued at around $2.4 million, according toThe Sun.
Bet they have a ceremony and give him a Certificate
which praises him for turning the gold in to a government in need.
Called the police?? What the hell was he thinking?
Wait till they hit him with the taxes on it.
What the fuck is wrong with people?
STFU
My buddy found money in a house his company was demoing. I found out about it
27 years latter. $39,000 in cash.
Must be something in the water over there?
What a fucking idiot!
He should have called Auric Goldfinger to help him smuggle the gold out of the country.
Nick Mead: “Do you expect me to talk?”
British Gubment: “No, Mr Mead. I expect you to PAY!”
Good for him, but if me…it’s not public.
This is what happens when you are raised to believe you are a subject and not a citizen.
Maybe part of the gold and cash obozo sent over there.
So you are allowed to have a personal tank in Britain but not any personal firearms? Especially “illegal firearms”?
Reefer madness
I wonder what the freight charges are for shipping a tank. I might check into buying one. Maybe I’ll just have them send the gold, you can keep the tank.
I found some very disturbing bones in my garden once. I just dug an even deeper hole and put them there. No phone calls.
Charles Laughton – “Don’t be ridiculous. I’m a Senator.”
Somebody would have charged him with illegal smuggling the gold into the UK. Once his helper saw the gold the gig was up, there would be no way that he could have kept this secret, unless the two of them split it 50/50 then agreed to bury it and maybe cash it in in small amounts little by little.
It would be a lot of work to evade the law and the penalty for getting caught would make the smart move what they ended up doing, involving the authorities.
Yeah, yeah Dr Tar but don’t make us realists
Loose Lips, your buddy is a rat. The tank guy is a moron.
Sounds like the couple in CA who found all those mint gold coins in coffee cans on their property. Me? No one here will ever know. Finders keepers (unless there is a strong possibility the real owner can be found, quietly.)
Never call the government. They’re the largest, most organized, most profitable crime organization in every country.
The gold in question was acquired through a mutually agreed transaction, where property was exchanged for property. The tank and all components contained therein was his upon the completion of the transaction. He was under no legal obligation to give the gold to anyone, much less the British government.
This is right up there with the dude in Butte who complained about “heavy metals” coming from his faucets.
He was assured by the Authorities that they would fix the problem, but not to worry, gold flakes weren’t harmful to one’s health.
@TN Tuxedo: Unless there is a provision in British law that makes an exception for stolen property, requiring that it be returned to its owner. We have such laws here, too. Five’ll get you ten that gold was looted from Kuwait during the Gulf War, and if that could be determined, he might not get to keep it.
P.S. – Anyone with the money to collect tanks and related heavy vehicles would probably not be as devastated as you or I would be if that happened. He’s got to be worth a lot more than that.
So the tank ran on gold? Seems like an impractical fuel source.
$2.4 million? The best this poor sap can expect is the gov’t lets him keep the gold minus taxes. Top bracket in the UK is 50%. The local gov’t probably has income taxes as well. Unless it is obviously blood money, just STFU. He also just screwed up his livelihood, because the cost of used tanks is about to skyrocket. Dumbass.
I read the headline and thought of Kelly’s Heroes:
“Oddball must have gotten really stoned on his way to Switzerland.”
Interesting find but they will find the true owner, gold bullion in bricks is usually serialized. It will go back to the government of Iraq or Kuwait or Russia or Iran or Saddam’s wife.
Considering all of the witnesses, the fact that there is a video of the discovery, etc., he would never have been able to hide it.
As Bugs would say “What a Maroon!”
I could have laundered that in no time at all.
Not to get off topic but – – you can’t own a gun in the United Kingdom but you can own a TANK?
Sure gold bars are stamped with some art work & serialized, but he could always do what the federal reserve does with gold bars they are storing for other countries. Melt ’em down, cut it with less refined gold and recast it in a different form. D’oh.
@Rufus T Firefly
I thought the same! Great movie! 👍😭
The form he filled out for the police? ID10T.