Five people were placed in pre-trial detention after the hostage-taking at the end of January near Lyon by the boss of a specialized company who had been forced to give his captors several tens of kilos of gold, we learned from parquet.
They are part of a group of nine individuals arrested and placed in police custody on Monday.
The last four people were put "out of cause", according to the same source.
Earlier this week, we revealed to you that in addition to the loot that was found by investigators, 50 kilos of gold were seized.
Loot estimated at 1.4 million euros
On January 28, in the early hours of the morning, five armed and hooded individuals burst into Bessenay (Rhône) at the home of the head of a company specializing in the reconditioning of gold.
The business manager, his son and his girlfriend had been assaulted by the criminals, then separated, the latter demanding that the father of the family give them gold in order to free the two others, taken as hostages.
The entrepreneur then went to his company located in Limonest, at the gates of Lyon, in order to recover "between 20 and 30 kilos of gold", according to the prosecution.
The amount of the loot has been estimated at up to 1.4 million euros.
The father then received an order from criminals to join a new place to deliver the gold to accomplices who then fled.
The manager's son and his girlfriend, in their twenties, were later found, bound and gagged, in the parking lot of a restaurant in the Parc de Miribel-Jonage, to the north-west of the city.