The turret of a third Maybach tank from World War 2 had been stolen, police statement said on January 22 2008.

The tank had been buried more than 50 years ago in the region of Elhovo along the Bulgarian-Turkish border and served as a firing point, mediapool.bg said.

Defence Ministry representatives last examined the firing points in August 2007. The turret was reportedly stolen at some time after August, mediapool.bg said.

It is the third Maybach tank theft in Bulgaria. In December 2007, military counter-intelligence arrested a gang of two German citizens and a Bulgarian soldier, who had stolen one tank and tried to steal a second one. These tanks too were used as firing points, dug in between the villages of Melnitsa and Lesovo in the region of Yambol.

Police had no evidence of soldier being involved in the theft in this case.
 
The Maybach tanks are currently highly valued by collectors. In Germany collectors pay large amounts of money for the tanks, mediapool.bg said.

Tank-theft seems to be profitable business as in mid-January 2008 police arrested three men from the Momina Tsurkva, in the region of Bourgas, after they sold parts of the turret of an unknown tank for scrap metal.