Trial opens into CHF40 million Swiss cash convoy heist

Between 2017 and 2019, western Switzerland saw a series of spectacular attacks against money trucks blamed on Lyon-based criminals. A money van in Daillens, north of Lausanne. Keystone / Laurent Gillieron

The trial of a CHF40 million cash truck robbery in Switzerland in 2017 is due to open on Monday in Lyon, France, in the absence of three of the six defendants, who are still wanted. 

This time last year, the court decided to adjourn the proceedings due to the absence of half of the accused, who had all been arrested in 2017 shortly after the robbery in the Swiss canton of Vaud and subsequently placed under judicial supervision. 

+ Why is Switzerland a target for cash truck heists?

Contacted by AFP last week, their lawyers said they had no news of the three missing defendants, who were considered to be “deliberately at large” and subject to arrest warrants. 

The trial had already been adjourned for the first time until 2021, one of the defendants having contracted Covid. 

+ Trial opens into CHF40 million Swiss cash convoy heist

The six defendants, aged between 39 and 54 and mostly from the Lyon region, were arrested in a villa in Haute-Savoie, a few hours after the night-time attack on a cash-in-transit van belonging to the Loomis company (the plaintiff) between Geneva and Lausanne on 24 May 2017. 

After the attack with an assault rifle, the couriers were threatened and tied up, then taken to the trunks of two cars. The van and one of the two cars were found set on fire in France. One of the couriers had been sprayed with bleach to remove any incriminating traces. 

The six criminals were arrested in possession of the loot, consisting of banknotes of various currencies crammed into bags, four gold bars and several thousand precious stones, with a total estimated value of more than CHF40 million (€42.3 million). 

They face a maximum sentence of 30 years’ imprisonment for armed robbery in an organised gang, and life imprisonment for those who have re-offended. 

Two of them were previously sentenced in Geneva in 2013 to five and seven years’ imprisonment. A third has already been convicted of similar offences in France. 

This case is part of a series of spectacular attacks on cash-in-transit couriers carried out in Switzerland and attributed to Lyon-based criminals. 

Over the last eight years, at least eight robberies or attempted robberies have been committed in various Swiss cantons. The criminals often benefited from information about the routes and security systems of vans travelling at night, opening up a debate in Switzerland about the security measures to be implemented. 

Last week, a man who took part in the robbery of an armoured car in Switzerland in 2018, in which the daughter of one of the security guards was taken hostage, was sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment by the assize court in Lyon. The case involving a former courier had already been tried in March 2023, resulting in several convictions. The recent case was split because of the defendant’s state of health. 

In the case of the robbery in the canton of Vaud, it was information about the plans of a criminal from the Lyon region known for armed robberies in Switzerland that put the police on the trail. 

The gang was arrested soon after the attack, when cross-checks by the Lyon judicial police’s research and intervention brigade located them in a villa in Chavanod, near Annecy, identified as a potential fallback base. 

In addition to the loot, several weapons were found on site, including five assault rifles and various accessories used in the robbery. DNA fingerprints from several suspects were found on the items seized. 

The trial is due to run for six days, from Monday 22 to Monday 29 January. 

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