According to a report in the newspaper “Le Parisien”, five suspects were arrested near Paris after the spectacular attack on a money transporter in Saarlouis, Saarland. Two of the suspects are said to have been directly involved in the robbery, the newspaper reported on Saturday, citing legal sources. According to this, they are members of organized crime in France who have already been convicted of similar crimes in the past.
The act on Friday resulted in an exchange of fire and an explosion – the unknown had blown up the van and also stolen cash. The perpetrators are said to have fled in high-horsepower cars towards the French border. The federal police and the French police took part in the large-scale manhunt. A picture of the devastation remained at the crime scene: the burned-out money transporter was parked across the street, several other cars were charred, shell casings lay on the asphalt.
The Saarland police only spoke of three arrests on Saturday. A police spokesman said there was currently no information about other people arrested. It will be checked whether those arrested are related to the crime the day before. The spokesman also did not provide any information on the identity or the circumstances of the arrests. How many police officers were injured in the act the day before also remained open. The officials suffered minor injuries during an escape maneuver by the perpetrators.
“Le Parisien” spoke of five arrests and quoted a source close to the investigation as saying: “These are older bank robbers who have recognized know-how in this area.” The arrests were made by special police forces it is therefore on Friday evening in Epinay and Saint-Denis near the French capital.
According to the French Sunday newspaper “Le Journal du Dimanche”, two of the five arrested include 44-year-old Loïc D., aka “Lolo”, and 56-year-old Abdelkrim L., also “Petit Abdel” (Little called Abdel). They are two figures of organized crime in Paris. Both were taken into police custody at the Central Office for Combating Organized Crime (OCLCO).
The 56-year-old was known to the authorities. According to “JDD” information, he was sentenced to 22 years in prison in 2005 for an attack on a money transporter in which one person died in Nanterre near Paris in 2000.
Two alleged accomplices are said to have stayed at the scene of the robbery. The investigators had secured 500,000 euros and firearms from the suspects. In total, the loot is said to have amounted to two million euros.
The “Bild” reports that there were another six million euros in the vehicle that were burned. The messengers had therefore just picked up eight million euros from the Landesbank.
As the newspaper “Le Républicain Lorrain” reported, a burnt-out car was found in Boulay, Lorraine, which could be the getaway car of the perpetrators. Boulay is on the Saarlouis-Metz road, not far from the access to the A4 motorway to Paris.
The police assumed that the robbery was meticulously planned. The perpetrators are said to have been waiting for the cash transport on Friday morning at a crossroads in the Lisdorf district of Saarlouis. As the vehicle turned a corner, a small car rammed into the van, causing it to stop. There was an exchange of fire and almost simultaneously there was an explosion at the stern. Both vehicles are said to have caught fire, and other cars nearby were also damaged.
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