Six criminals took an entire family hostage in the Swiss Jura to steal gold before fleeing to France, forcing a roadblock and injuring a customs officer, according to Swiss authorities and media.
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The hostage-taking began on the evening of Wednesday 3 November at the home of the director of a watch company in the village of Bassecourt, a few kilometers as the crow flies from the French border.
Threatened by firearms, the manager and his family were forced to go to the headquarters of the company run by the victim.
The family held in a car
The team then returned to the premises to steal the precious materials intended for production, underlines the daily
Le Matin
.
Throughout the raid, the family was held in a car in a parking lot outside the company, ATS said.
The amount of stolen gold remains to be determined, according to the prosecutor.
The Swiss Jura is the heart of the country's watch production.
The precious materials often used to make the most beautiful pieces make these workshops prime targets for thieves.
The individuals then fled, still with the hostages, in three vehicles.
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The director and his family - shocked but unharmed - were finally abandoned, like his vehicle, in a forest near Bourrignon, near the French border with the Haut-Rhin department.
Very quickly, an important device was put in place by the cantonal police and Swiss customs (AFD), said prosecutor Nicolas Theurillat, daily.
The two vehicles occupied by the perpetrators of the theft forced the roadblock installed by AFD in Lucelle, on the border and, according to the newspaper, struck a Swiss customs officer, injuring his leg.
Both vehicles were later found charred in the Belfort area, as was a Heckler & Koch type MP-5 submachine gun, according to the newspaper.