High-speed electronics thieves caught in the act

A group of modern-day highwaymen in Germany has been caught stealing consumer electronics from trucks travelling at high speed.

Police from the city of Dortmund have arrested six Romanians after observing them stealing electronics from moving vehicles on the city's autobahn system, often at speeds of 60mph or more.

The gang used two cars which would approach trucks at night with their headlights off. Two gang members would get onto the bonnet and one would break into the rear of the target with bolt cutters and pass boxes of goods to the second.

The second car would block the other lane of the road to stop anyone observing the crime.

"It was an extremely dangerous stunt, like an action film," Manfred Radecke, a spokesman for Dortmund police, told Associated Press.

"They won't tell us where they trained, or how often they did this. If any other German police departments have seen odd truck thefts we hope they contact us."

The truck drivers were unaware that they were being robbed until they stopped for fuel. The gang were observed in action by a motorist who told the police, which then staked out the roadway and caught the gang red-handed.

Police said that five of the gang were living in Romania and travelling to Germany to commit the robberies, while the sixth was a Dortmund resident.

In two attacks the gang managed to steal only two laptops and a quantity of mobile phones.