Six French men jailed over CHF40m cash truck heist in Switzerland
A Lyon court has handed prison sentences ranging from seven to 20 years to six French men for robbing a cash truck carrying money and valuables worth over CHF40 million ($46 million) in western Switzerland in 2017.
This content was published on
3 minutes
Keystone-SDA
The Rhône Assize Court in Lyon announced the verdicts on January 26. Three of the accused were sentenced in absentia; they have been on the run for a year.
The court imposed the heaviest sentence – 20 years in jail – on the three who were absent, repeat offenders with long criminal records. The three others who appeared in court were sentenced to 16, 12 and 7 years in prison following a five-day trial.
The six men, aged 39 to 54 and mostly from Lyon, attacked a cash convoy van in May 2017 on a road between Geneva and Lausanne, near Nyon. Posing as police officers, they held up the truck with assault rifles and tied up the drivers before putting them into the boots of two cars. After crossing into France, they forced one of the drivers to open the convoy truck.
The six criminals, who had been under police surveillance for nine months, were arrested four hours after the robbery in a villa in France’s Haute-Savoie region. They were in possession of banknotes of different currencies, four gold bars and several thousand precious stones, estimated at over CHF40 million.
The case is part of a series of spectacular attacks against money trucks in Switzerland blamed on Lyon-based criminals, carried out in canton Vaud between 2017 and 2019. Robberies also took place in Mont-sur-Lausanne, Daillens, La Sarraz and Chavornay.
The attacks ended after the Vaud government tightened the rules for the transportation of cash in the region. Although most of the suspects are being tried in France, trials have already taken place in canton Vaud in Switzerland. They resulted in the convictions of an Algerian man and two suspects from Geneva for the attacks in Mont-sur-Lausanne and Chavornay.
External Content
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished… We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. You can find them here.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
Swiss justice minister hopes EU reform will reduce irregular migration
This content was published on
The European Union’s (EU) New Pact on Migration and Asylum aims to curb irregular migration within Schengen, Justice Minister Beat Jans said on Tuesday.
Swiss electricity supply outlook positive despite uncertainties
This content was published on
Thanks to well-filled gas stores in Europe and increased availability of French nuclear power, the Swiss Federal Electricity Commission is optimistic.
Finance minister wants Swiss banks to hold more equity
This content was published on
Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter has repeated calls for banks and their holdings in subsidiaries abroad to hold more equity.
Telecoms sector kept Swiss competitions regulator busy in 2023
This content was published on
Last year, the Swiss Competition Commission (COMCO) conducted 27 investigations and initiated 17 preliminary investigations.
This content was published on
Although Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) achieved higher revenue at the start of the year, it suffered a dip in profits.
40,000 signatures against animal testing in Switzerland
This content was published on
Switzerland should do away with “restrictive” animal testing and should become a model for innovative, effective, and pain-free scientific research.
More than 45,000 signatures in favour of federal funding for UNRWA
This content was published on
The Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives (FAC) is expected to decide on the funding of the UNRWA at the beginning of the week.
This content was published on
At the end of January 2024, 6,881 men and women were behind bars in Switzerland. Almost 95% of all places were occupied, the highest number since 2014.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.