Two history buffs in England who spend their spare time sprucing up old tanks were shocked to find a hidden stash of gold bars inside one of the old military vehicles.
The discovery was made while Nick Mead and Todd Chamberlain inspected one of their tanks, a relic from Iraq, for old guns and weapons. As is their personal protocol for tanks that have gone to war, they filmed the search.
“Is that what I think it is?” says Chamberlain on video as he pulls out one glistening bar after another.
All in all, five gold bars were recovered from the tank’s diesel container. Their estimated worth: $3.5 million.
And, in a testament to the men’s honesty, they called up police and turned the loot over to authorities. It’s a decision Mead says he’s gotten some flak over.
“Lots of abuse from all over the world. ‘Are you mad?’” Mead told CTV News. “There were kids running and everything else, the whole world knew about it … and I was thinking, maybe if I had been all on my own it would have been a different story.”
It’s unclear exactly how the gold ended up there. The tank was purchased off eBay for more than $50,000, and it’s believed to have been used by Iraqi forces during the invasion of Kuwait.
“The most shocking aspect of this find was that, with most of these tanks, all of the goodies have been found by their current owners many years ago. This was the King Tut’s tomb of tanks,” Chamberlain said.
The unusual hobby is a passion project for the two friends. Mead collects the vehicles, gives them a facelift and even drives his son to school in one of his tanks.
Police picked up the gold bars and gave the men a receipt in return. Mead and Chamberlain don’t expect they’ll be allowed to keep their findings and suspect the most money they’ll make off the strange discovery could be a finder’s fee.
With a report from CTV’s Daniele Hamamdjian
