Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

CRIME

Man behind French ‘heist of century’ hangs self

Marc Armando, the suspected mastermind behind one of France's most spectacular bank heists two decades ago, has committed suicide in prison, sources close to the investigation said Saturday.

Published: 4 May 2013 10:50 CEST
Man behind French 'heist of century' hangs self
Toulon. Photo: styeb

Armando, 56, was sentenced to 18 years in jail for his role in the 1992 robbery of the Bank of France in Toulon when raiders got away with 146 million francs (€22 million today), only around a tenth of which was ever recovered.

In April, he was arrested in the Netherlands under a European arrest warrant in connection with drug trafficking and was handed over to French authorities on Friday.

Armando was found hanged in his cell within hours of arriving at a detention centre in Marseille on Friday evening, sources said.

An investigation into the death is under way.

Armando was thought to have been the brains behind the Toulon bank robbery, known as "the heist of the century" in France.

He was due to appear before magistrates on Saturday in connection with a large seizure of cocaine in the port of Rotterdam. The illegal cargo was allegedly attached to a petrol tanker. 

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

CRIME

One dead, several injured in Paris suburb shooting

One person was killed and six injured overnight in a gritty northern Paris suburb in a shooting likely linked to drug trafficking, prosecutors and the mayor said Saturday.

Published: 4 May 2024 10:05 CEST
One dead, several injured in Paris suburb shooting

The attack in a parking lot near a cultural centre at Sevran, which lies between central Paris and the city’s main airport Charles de Gaulle, took place around 11:45 pm (2145 GMT) Friday, prosecutors said.

Upon arriving on the scene, police found four injured people strewn on the ground. One died soon after and the three others were taken to hospitals in a serious condition, a police source said.

Three more people injured by bullets were later taken to hospital, the source said, adding that two men had arrived in the parking lot in a car and one of them got out and opened fire.

The attackers then fled.

Sevran mayor Stephane Blanchet told AFP “it was clearly a settling of scores linked to drug trafficking.”

“There is a need to establish order and eradicate trafficking,” he said. “Those idiots fired live bullets and did not heed appeals for calm”.

Police have opened an investigation into intentional homicide by an organised gang, they said. No arrests had been by Saturday morning.

SHOW COMMENTS