AN ARMED gang who raided a Newport bank is believed to be the same group behind a bungled robbery in England in which a security guard was shot.

Detectives hunting the gang who shot a Securicor guard during Newport's Halifax robbery on April 11 are looking at a possible link with an armed robbery in Worcestershire.

A guard was critically injured when he was shot in the neck during a post office raid in Rednal on Thursday morning when a gang of three or four men wearing balaclavas made off empty-handed in a grey Mitsubishi Evolution. Police are still not revealing how much was taken in the Newport raid.

The gang then crashed the car at a pub a short distance away and abandoned it before carjacking a grey Rover 45 and making their getaway.

The Mitsubishi has been recovered by West Mercia Police and is being examined by forensic officers.

Yesterday the detective leading the investigation into the Newport robbery, Detective Superintendent Geoff Ronayne, stressed how important it was to trace the Mitsubishi Evolution VIII car used during that raid.

He told the Argus Gwent Police are working with colleagues from West Mercia: "We are following up and sharing information and looking at the possibility of any links."

Gwent Police now believe the offenders may be connected with the West Midlands, Leicestershire and Nottingham areas.

Det Supt said the "missing piece of the jigsaw" was the car used in the Halifax robbery and the person who made the false plates used on the vehicle.

He said: "I strongly suspect the car was stolen from Birmingham. We need to know where it is being stored, where it is now and who made these plates."

He said he believed the car may still be somewhere in South Wales - possibly Newport.

Det Supt Ronayne said the 55-year-old guard who needed surgery after being shot in the thigh is now out of hospital and recovering well.

Call Gwent Police on 01633 838111 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.