Thieves Take Over an Entire British Village

Police said Tuesday that they were hunting for a gang of robbers who took over an entire village while they broke into the post office and stole $22,700.

The five men, dressed in camouflage clothing and ski masks, cut telephone lines in Rothbury, in northern England, and threatened some of its 2,000 residents with crowbars during the raid Monday.

They blocked a main street with a stolen van and told people looking out of their windows to go back to bed before they methodically broke into the post office and stole a safe.