The daughter of one of the conveyors who was kidnapped and used as a hostage, 25 million francs were stolen: the main perpetrator of the robbery of an armored van in Savornay (VD) in 2018 was sentenced to sixteen years in prison on Wednesday. Rhone.
Mehdi A., 40, was found guilty in his absence by the Rhône Assize Court in Lyon of armed robbery and kidnapping in an organized gang. The man was first jailed in Tunisia in December 2022 and sentenced in a case related to false documents, according to information available to the court on the day the trials began.
The Advocate General sought a 20-year sentence. The court confirmed the warrant for his arrest.
The investigation established that at least six criminals had robbed and kidnapped the daughter of the van’s driver at the same time, to put pressure on the latter.
Of the loot of 25 million Swiss francs, 2.5 million were found in a body buried in the garage of a house in Ain, following an anonymous tip.
Six years for partner
Of the six people identified, apart from Mehdi A., only one other is to be tried for direct participation in the van robbery in Savornay, Vaud, Switzerland. But his case was dropped as he was hospitalized the day before the hearing. He is due to stand trial in the coming months.
On Wednesday, after a six-day trial, the court sentenced Yusuf K., 32, to six years in prison for being an accomplice. The jury assumed that this ex-conveyor had provided decisive information to the gang from Lyon, which he denied.
The penalty is accompanied by a permanent ban on exercising a profession, particularly in financial transport. He was released on trial after three years of pre-trial detention and was subject to a commitment order.
Sentenced in hiding
A third man, Pascal G., 48, was sentenced to 4 years in prison, with 2 years suspended, for concealing 2.5 million Swiss francs. A person who has already served one year in pre-trial custody should benefit from sentence adjustment. A childhood friend of an alleged gang leader had no idea of the exact origin of the loot hidden in his home, the judges heard.
Additionally, a fourth person, initially prosecuted for criminal association, was acquitted. Mehdi B., 30, remains in custody.
A sixth person identified and believed to have been involved died in settling the score.
Hostage
The hearing was marked by the startling testimony of Sarah B., 26, the van driver’s daughter, who was surprised at her home in Leon by two fake plumbers on the evening of February 8, 2018.
“I was scared. My survival instinct told me to do what they asked me to do,” she said. She is horrified by scenes of murder, rape, organ abduction, and driving his armored van until her captors ask her to call her father. They use it as leverage to force him to open the vehicle doors without alerting his company.
Days after the robbery, with investigations in full swing, Sarah B. Taken into police custody, investigators were initially suspicious of her father’s role.
Previous convictions
The two Genevans involved in the case were previously convicted by the Vaud justice system. The two thirty-year-olds did not participate in the attack or kidnap the daughter of one of the conveyors.
But according to the judges, they actually played an indispensable and decisive role. The Court of Appeal sentenced them to eleven years in prison and the other to five-and-a-half years.
For the record, the Savornay robbery was part of a series of spectacular raids carried out between 2017 and 2019 on conveyors on vat land in Mont-sur-Lausanne, Teilance, La Sarras and Nyon. The robberies have stopped since the Wat Council of State tightened the rules for transporting funds.
This article was published automatically. Sources: ats / afp
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