The manhunt of six Afghan illegal immigrants who shot at a farm worker in the West Midlands earlier this week has been called off after just 36 unsuccessful hours, Breitbart London can reveal.

The hunt by police marksmen, sniffer dogs, and a force helicopter began on Saturday night after a farm labourer happened upon the group of suspicious-looking men in a barn near Keele in Staffordshire, in England’s West Midlands. The man followed the group in his vehicle after they left the barn, but they shot at him as they tried to get away, missing him but striking his vehicle on a window, indicating it may have been a close miss.

Although the group of men are demonstrably armed and unafraid to fire upon members of the public if disturbed, Staffordshire police hastily announced the hunt for them “concluded” in a press release yesterday morning, having been searching for little over 36 hours.

The brief investigation suggests Staffordshire police believe the gang has likely already fled to other parts of the country, but despite being pressed for further information by Breitbart London, the force merely confirmed the “forensic” investigation was ongoing.

When asked whether the short search was correct and proportional to an incident as serious as a gang of Afghani migrants apparently arriving in the United Kingdom ready armed and ready for trouble, the a Staffordshire police spokesman replied they had nothing further to add.

The disappearance of the gang may be seen as a major blunder for the force, considering the shooting took place only hours after officers were initially alerted to their presence, as they climbed out of the back of a Hungarian lorry at the nearby M6 motorway services.

As reported by Breitbart London yesterday, of the seven known Afghan migrants who left the lorry after being illegally smuggled into the country police only managed to keep one in their custody – the remaining six escaped, before going on to shoot at the farm labourer.

Armed police responded to calls from the public, including a team swooping on a village shop after locals reported a group of men not known to the village, but they were found to be the wrong foreigners reports the Stoke Sentinel.

Now Staffordshire Police has stood back from the investigation, finding the gang has presumably fallen to neighbouring police forces.