Eleven men - all from Romania - were detained after officers from the Motorway Patrol Group stopped a Citroen Relay van on the M6 in Staffordshire in the early hours of Tuesday.

It had a makeshift hatch cut in the roof and a large amount of cutting equipment on board along with several people.

Officers believe that the gang planned to drive up so close behind juggernauts they could not be seen by the driver before climbing through the hatch in the roof onto the bonnet of their fast moving van.

The raiders would then slash a hole in the back of the still moving lorry while roped to the pursuing van. A member of the gang would clamber into the back of the truck to pass goods from the targeted truck to the following van which would then drive away with the stolen haul.

The van had been tracked as it drove north past Birmingham and was forced by police to drive onto Keele Services where it was searched and several men were arrested.

One police officer said today: "I know this may sound far fetched but this type of crime has been seen throughout Europe although it has only recently emerged in this country."

The van had been identified after being spotted acting suspiciously on an earlier occasion, possibly as part of Operation Trivium, a joint operation launched by UK and European traffic police in April.

Eleven men from Romania have been charged with conspiracy to rob and were due to appear at Newcastle Under Lyme Magistrates Court today.

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A gang in Romanians was recently jailed in their home country for a carbon copy crime after their ruse was captured on film by infra red camera on a police helicopter.

Romanian police had set up a special task force to catch the gang - who were arrested after they were filmed carrying out a robbery on a moving truck.

Policeman Raul Comutru, 45, said later: "It was like something out of a Hollywood movie, the car always kept exactly the same distance behind the lorry and it was obviously done a lot of times before because it was a really smooth operation.

"One of the men climbed out of the roof and a second stands behind him securing him with the rope construction while he sets to work breaking open the doors."

The eleven men charged are Ion Dumitru, aged 22, Marius Caldararu, 37, Ionel Ursaru, 38, Ionita Caldararu, 33, Alin Vaduva, 34, Corado Dumitrascu, 22, Nicolae Constantin, 36, Craisor Mitrache, 34, Felix Macelaru, 32, Ionut Baboi, 27, and Micera Nicusor, 28.