Men jailed for money truck robbery and kidnapping in Switzerland
A French court has given a 16-year jail sentence in absentia to a man believed to be the mastermind of an armoured car robbery in Switzerland and the kidnapping of a security guard’s daughter.
The court in Lyon found Mehdi A. guilty of armed robbery in an organised gang and kidnapping. He was initially on the run, but was imprisoned and convicted in December 2022 in Tunisia, in a case of false documents, according to information received by the court. It has confirmed issuing an arrest warrant for him.
The court also sentenced another man to six years imprisonment for complicity and a third to four years, of which two suspended, for handling stolen goods worth 2.5 million euros. A fourth was acquitted. Another defendant, hospitalised for stomach pains the day before the hearing, is due to be tried in the coming months. His case has been separated.
+ Read about the truck robbery and kidnapping
The van robbery and kidnapping took place in Chavorney, in the western Swiss canton of Vaud, in 2018. Two Swiss nationals were also convicted by the criminal court in Lausanne for complicity.
The French investigation established that at least six criminals committed the robbery and the simultaneous kidnapping of the daughter of the van driver. Of the CHF25 million ($27.6 million) in loot, 2.5 million were found on anonymous tip-offs in a trunk buried in the garage of a house in eastern France.
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