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War tank restoration turns up $3 million worth of gold

British restorers found five gold bars inside an old Iraqi tank.

British restorers found five gold bars inside an old Iraqi tank. Photo: YouTube

A British tank collector has struck gold – literally – after mistaking bars of gold for weapons in a vintage Iraqi tank.

Owner of Tanks-A-Lot, Nick Mead purchased the two-decade-old Army Type 69 tank on eBay for restoration, only to find roughly $3 million worth of gold hidden inside.

During a routine strip-down, shop restorer Todd found a number of machine gun ammunition in the vehicle, and suspected the weapons that went with it were next.

However to everyone’s surprise, when he opened the fuel tank he did not unearth old guns as expected, but five w6kg bars of gold.

Watch the golden discovery below:

“What is it? No. Is that what I think it is?” Mr Mead said, filming the process in case he needed to explain the discovery to police.

Mr Head, who only days earlier called authorities after they found live 50 cal ammunition inside the tank, rang once again to report the most recent finding.

And at the moment, it appears unlikely he will keep the treasure, after turning the gold – and the bullets – to police for analysis.

“In the end it’s a choice between the police, the Iraqi embassy or Kuwaiti embassy,” Mr Mead wrote.

“If you report the fund it’s taken away – it’s unlikely you will ever see it again, but you know you’re sneaky clean and in the clear. Who knows one day, probably not soon, it could legally be yours.”

The gold is thought to have been looted during the 1990 invasion of Kuwaiti and hidden in the tank.

Mr Mead purchased the battle tank in February for $50,000.

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