Nick Mead (pictured left) and mechanic, Todd Chamberlain with the tank. They found the gold inside the diesel tank, which they had just removed
A 55-year-old British tank restorer who bought a tank on eBay for 30,000 Pounds, has found 2 million worth of gold bars hidden in the diesel tank. A 55-year-old military man, Nick Mead, who bought a tank on eBay for £30,000 could not believe his eyes when he found five gold bars worth £2million hidden in the diesel tank, and are believed to have been looted by Iraqi soldiers during the invasion of Kuwait in 1990.
According to Dailymail, the man who runs Tanks-a-Lot on a site in Helmdon, Northamptonshire, was restoring the Chinese-made T54 tank to add to the collection of 150 military vehicles.
Nick Mead (pictured) bought the tank after spotting it on eBay.
The vehicle had been restored by previous owner, a 22-year-old man, Joe Hewes, who replaced its tracks and fixed its engine without ever discovering the valuable booty inside.
Nick had traded an Army lorry and an Abbot self-propelled gun for the tank. He had found machine gun ammunition while stripping it down and feared guns might have been stored inside the fuel tank.
The Chinese-made T54 tank was sold on eBay for around £30,000 by Joe Hewes, pictured, who bought it 'ruined' and restored it
While speaking with The Sun UK, Nick's friend, Chamberlain said; 'We didn't know what to do. You can't exactly take five gold bullion bars down to Cash Converters without questions being asked, so we called the police,' he said, adding that a quick calculation estimated the worth of the gold at £2million.
Nick said: 'We know it is definitely an Iraqi tank and our theory is the gold is from Kuwait but we don't know. When we found it, we were all laughing and joking and deciding what we were going to spend the money on.
Mead bought the tank after trading it for an Army lorry and an Abbot self-propelled gun (pictured)
'My sister wanted a Land Rover and I would buy a Rolls Royce Phantom and chop the back off to make a pick-up truck.'
The exact history of Hewes' tank is unknown but an inspection revealed it is a Chinese copy of the Russian T-54 design and manufactured under the designation Type 69. It was built in the early 1980s and has just 1507 miles on the clock.
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