Insane footage of 'real-life GTA' robbery shows armed robbers blowing up van on highway

Video footage has captured the moment armed robbers in Italy pulled off a 'GTA-style' heist, which featured guns and a detonated bomb.

In scenes similar to ones you would expect from the hit video game series Grand Theft Auto, which is supposedly set to be finally released later this year, a gang carried out a crazy operation on an Italian motorway in the southern region of Puglia.

The crew reportedly used an Alfa Romeo car with blue flashing lights, in order to trick those driving an armoured truck, believed to potentially be carrying luxury watches, into thinking that it was there as security.

However, the situation soon became apparent when a lorry was set alight to block anyone from passing and a bomb was set off in the back of a white van, with the gang attempted to carry out the heist, all while motorists on the other side of the road watched on in horror.

A shootout with police quickly began but remarkably nobody was injured, with just the windscreen of one cop's car hit by a bullet.

It's unclear how much of the goods or money inside the van they were able to take, as reports suggest that they hijacked cars from motorists in order to flee the scene.

The Alfa Romeo which was initially used was also abandoned following a chase in the countryside, with two suspects arrested following a short foot chase near the town of Squinzano.

You can watch the footage below:

la rapina portavalori oggi lunedi 09\02\2025 osservate pic.twitter.com/ZlcwODVKag

— CRUDELIA DE MON (@Crudeli45198835) February 9, 2026

Nicola Magno, regional secretary general of union Un Arma, said: "It is only thanks to the professionalism, composure, and sense of duty of our colleagues that today we are not talking about a tragedy.

"The Carabinieri are working courageously to ensure the safety of citizens, but they cannot be left alone in the face of increasingly complex and dangerous operational scenarios."

Police are hunting for the rest of the gang, with around six men believed to have taken part in the raid.

Magno also raised concerns about the rise in criminal activities which continues to put the Carabinieri in danger.

He added: Once again, Carabinieri officers find themselves on the front line of a criminal action that is extremely violent and well organised.

“The fact that a patrol was targeted with shots shows the high level of risk that our officers are being exposed to on a regular basis. It is only thanks to the professionalism, cool heads and sense of duty of our colleagues that we are not talking about a tragedy.”

The scenes were also not too dissimilar to the ones we saw at the Louvre last year, when a gang of men dressed in high-vis jackets rode off with some of the French art museum's most valuable pieces.