Two men were arrested during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday after trying to rob a company in Villeneuve-la-Garenne (Hauts-de-Seine) to seize a stock of palladium acetate.
The business had already been the target of burglars last May.
It is 11:15 p.m. on avenue Jean-Jaurès when a Renault Clio with three men on board arrives at the entrance to the Seqens company, a pharmaceutical industry.
The security guard sees that they are wearing “Police” armbands and that their car is equipped with a blue flashing light.
Despite this disguise, the security guard, plagued by doubt, begins to discuss with the trio, when one of these men points at him with a semi-automatic pistol.
The criminals tie the employee up with adhesive tape.
They manipulate video surveillance cameras to avoid being filmed.
“Where is the Palladium?”
», asks one of them.
This component of some medications is very expensive.
A single kilo is worth 37,400 euros.
It can also be used to manufacture synthetic drugs.
But this evening, there is no famous metal on site.
The anti-crime brigade spots the Clio
The bandits seize other substances which they load into a Renault Kangoo which joins them.
Forty-five minutes later, the two vehicles fled.
The victim manages to free himself from his bonds and raises the alarm.
On the quays, the anti-crime brigade spotted the Clio and intercepted it in Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis).
The two occupants attempted to flee on foot before being caught.
In the car, the police got their hands on a police armband and a pistol.
The two suspects were placed in police custody in Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine) in the premises of the departmental judicial police service.
Already last May, the same company was robbed.
70 kg of palladium acetate were stolen for a loss of 2.5 million euros.
Three men, aged 27 to 66, were indicted for organized theft and criminal association in this case.
They explained that they were motivated by profit and that they had sold bars of this product in a precious metals buyback shop.