Facts common 20 years ago, but rarer today.
A post office was robbed on Friday morning in Évry-Courcouronnes (Essonne), by two hooded and armed men.
Around 8:45 a.m. on avenue de l'Orme-à-Martin, it's opening time, two hooded and armed men are waiting for the employees to arrive.
They force the director of the agency to open the premises to them, where there is already a second employee.
One of the thugs brandished an automatic pistol.
He demands that the manager deactivate the surveillance cameras of the vending machine and take him to the safe room, the latter being hidden in a cabinet.
The director complies without protesting.
He works to unlock the piggy bank.
But there is a problem: it is equipped with a timer system that forces thieves to wait.
In the meantime, the criminals are getting their hands on rolls of coins.
In the meantime, a cleaning lady arrives in the establishment and joins the two hostages.
A third accomplice on the phone
Thirty minutes later, the cabinet door finally opens.
The bandits fill their bag with banknotes.
The duo covers the scene with fire extinguisher powder to erase their fingerprints.
And at 9:30 a.m., the two men fled in an unknown direction with loot estimated at nearly 100,000 euros.
“The presence of a third accomplice is probable,” underlines a source close to the case, “because the robbers were in telephone contact with an unknown person.
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Immediately after their departure, the victims, in a state of shock but not injured, notified emergency services.
Firefighters and law enforcement rushed to the scene.
Investigators from the banditry suppression brigade (BRB) of Versailles (Yvelines) are responsible for carrying out the investigations.
The director and the two women are interviewed while forensic technicians identify traces and clues in the establishment.
The police are trying to find witnesses or video surveillance images that could identify the perpetrators of this rather well-conducted attack.
Post office robberies, once legion in the Paris region, because they were poorly secured, have almost disappeared.
A state of affairs which can be explained by an increase in security measures in all banking establishments.
The ratio of criminal risk and gain is also another factor.
There is less money in the banks so armed robbery is still a crime punishable by the criminal court.