Prison van carying convicted bank robbers crashes into security van, thousands missing

A Hungarian bank lost more than $28,000 in cash after a security van was rammed - by a prison van carying convicted bank robbers.

While rescue personnel saved the prisoners from their burning van, a small fortune disappeared from the security van as bags of money spilled out onto the streets of Budapest.

Civilians were seen driving up and grabbing the cash before speeding off again.

By the time law enforcement arrived the money was gone and there was no trace of those that had taken it.

Police suspected the robbery may have been organized from jail by crime bosses and carried out by gang members still on the outside.

But after interviews with the inmates - who were being transported from court back to jail - those suspicions were quickly refuted. The prisoners claimed they had nothing to do with the crash.

"The bank remains very suspicious. Of all the vehicles that could have hit their van, it had to be one full of bank robbers," said a police spokesman.