Why Cops Suspect Highway Gold Heist Was Inside Job

Did three armed robbers in a van just happen to be passing when a truck carrying gold bars pulled over on an isolated stretch of Interstate 95 on Sunday? According to search warrants seen by ABC News, investigators in North Carolina think the $4.8 million highway heist may have been an inside job. "The fact that the truck was robbed immediately upon it pulling over at an unannounced stop is suspicious in and of itself," one document states. "It is also suspicious because there are no markings on the side of the truck that would indicate the type of cargo contained therein." According to Wilson County Sheriff Calvin Woodard Jr., the two guards say they pulled over after one began to feel carsick, not because of mechanical problems as earlier reported.

At a press conference yesterday, Woodard told reporters that while every possibility is still being considered, the guards are currently considered victims, not suspects, and the search warrants were written before the men could be thoroughly interviewed in Spanish, the AP reports. According to the sheriff, the guards violated TransValue company rules by getting out of the truck without their guns. Police have also released 911 calls made after the heist, when the guards tried to flag down motorists after the robbers had taken off with the gold bars, WNCN reports. "There's a couple guys that look like they have their hands zip-tied behind their backs," one caller says. "They look like they have some sort of guard uniform on." (More North Carolina stories.)