Le Figaro Lyon
The dock at the Lyon Assizes is not large enough to seat all the accused.
This bench that some know from having already sat there in other cases of banditry.
Four experienced criminals are on trial there starting this Tuesday for the resounding robbery of a precious metals refining company, which occurred in Limonest, in the wealthy suburb of Lyon, in 2021. A remote-controlled robbery since the team work had kidnapped, kidnapped and forced an employee to load 90 kilos, mainly gold, into his personal vehicle, keeping his son and daughter-in-law hostage.
A fifth did not appear at the hearing, saying they feared for their life, while a suspected receiver and the nanny found a place in the first rows usually reserved for the public.
The latter admitted the facts, as well as two accused of the criminal association, for which they face life imprisonment.
They apologized to the victims at the start of this trial which is due to last eight days.
Pulled out of bed at 5 a.m.
An apology for having sequestered the family of an employee of the Precious Metals Refining and Finishing Company (Saamp) at their home.
After careful scouting, the criminals entered the home of Franck P. in Bessenay in the Lyonnais mountains.
Responsible for refining at Saamp, the man lives there with his son, whose girlfriend was present on the night of January 28, 2021.
Literally taken out of bed at 5 a.m., all three were held hostage at gunpoint by men dressed in black, gloved and hooded, before being driven in a van, in the direction of Écully, at the west of Lyon.
The employee is then given his personal vehicle as well as two cell phones to communicate with his jailers.
The latter keeping his son and his girlfriend under the yoke of their weapon, to force the father to act according to the instructions given to him by video call.
Also read: Heist of the century: Swiss security flaws examined by Lyon justice
A booty that turns heads
Franck then shows up for work at the usual time and proceeds to open the safes with another employee as usual.
But a head injury and the absence of his son, who works with him, alert his colleagues.
Until discreetly triggering the police alert system.
During this time, the father loaded 90 kilos of precious metals into his vehicle and went to a parking lot in the Mas du Taureau district in the town of Vaulx-en-Velin, at the other end of the metropolis.
This is the meeting point indicated by the criminals, who leave the scene in a Mégane RS after having sprayed the passenger compartment of their victim's car with fire foam to erase all biological traces.
At the same time, his son and his girlfriend were released in the neighboring Miribel Jonage park.
The 90 kilos of raw and fine gold and silver bars are valued at 2.8 million euros by Saamp.
And it is precisely the delicate sharing of this loot which will be at the origin of the downfall of the criminals.
Relations quickly become strained within the team, where one of the leaders tries to minimize the jackpot.
It is in this context that, on January 30, the PJ received anonymous information, quickly confirmed by wiretapping the suspects.
Because, second twist of fate, the investigators immediately came across recordings of conversations between several men directly evoking the Saamp robbery and the sharing of the loot.
Conversations held in a rental vehicle “with sound” by the PJ as part of another investigation.
The purchase of seven telephone chips in the same store in La Guillotière a few weeks before the events while the cell phone of one of the suspects terminals in the sector finally convinced the public prosecutor of Lyon.
A wave of simultaneous arrests was carried out on March 15.
Gold bars, shopping bags and automatic pistols
According to records, part of the gold was sold, notably in a Travelers camp where a resident is today accused of being a receiver.
But 58 kilos were discovered in the home of a nanny, who today pleads guilty without however handing over her sponsors.
In the 6 shopping bags, investigators discovered precious metals, some of which retained the Saamp labeling, as well as a hacksaw.
At the opening of the hearing, the president recalled the structure of the team, accused of having acted as an organized gang, emphasizing
"the degree of professionalism of the criminals"
, with a distribution of roles and tasks clearly identified.
Experienced criminals, three of whom are accused of having acted as repeat offenders.
One of them - whose two brothers were killed in a settling of scores - had tried to escape arrest by fleeing his rental accommodation, where an Uzi, another automatic weapon and a detector were found. waves, used to identify tracking devices.
Scouting allowed the criminals to identify Saamp as the perfect victim.
The company is well known in Lyon.
This is already the second time this year that it has been mentioned at the conference.
Last month, three individuals who doused two conveyor belts with gasoline were sentenced to sentences ranging from 7 to 13 years in prison.
Facts committed, less than two months after the kidnapping and the theft of the 90 kilos of gold, by a much less professional team who had been unable to open the safe.