Yellow Audi from car chase set on fire

(ANSA) - Turin, January 26 - A stolen yellow Audi RS4 with Swiss license plates that had become the focus of an intense manhunt in northern Italy was found overnight Monday on fire in a field near Fonte, about 35 km northwest of Treviso, police said Tuesday.
    Police are still searching for three Eastern European male suspects who had been using the Audi and have managed to evade capture.
    Police said the men are responsible for various robberies between Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia. The car fire Monday night was just the latest development in an ongoing search for the vehicle, which police said was lifted in Milan in December. The car was equipped with a Lamborghini engine allowing it to reach speeds of up to 260 km/hr, and last Friday its driver made an abrupt U-turn on a road near Mestre, driving 150 km/hr into oncoming traffic in order to avoid police capture.
    The day before, on Thursday, police had found and stopped the Audi, but its driver backed into reverse and sped away, despite the agent's attempt to stop it by shooting at its tires.
    Authorities said although they have no information about any car the suspects may now be using, no vehicles have been reported stolen in the area in the last 24 hours.
    Investigators, who have several photos of the three suspects, said they believe the men have an operating base or contacts in the area, as their movements have demonstrated an intimate knowledge of the local terrain. On Monday, a man turned himself in declaring his innocence after police had implicated him as a suspect in a photo they disseminated publicly.
    A judge cleared the 32-year-old Albanian identified only as A.P. of charges related to the Audi, but he will be deported for lacking a residency permit.