Robbers bag €1.6m in gun heist

Armed robbers blew up the entrance to a cash depot in Lille, stole €1.6m and shot at police as they made their escape.

The six masked men armed with AK-47s, pistols and wearing police armbands blew up a metal gate protecting the depot in a suburb of Douai in a dawn raid.

Three employees of the security company which runs the depot took refuge in a secure room where they were able to alert police.

Before officers arrived the gang had enough time to put hundreds of thousands of euros into their vehicles and steal several weapons used by security guards on cash transportation trucks.

The robbers fired at two police cars that arrived as they sped away in two vehicles with flashing lights on top.

No one was injured during the raid.

The same depot was held up in July last year.

State prosecutor for Lille Philippe Lemaire said: “As with last year, we have a group who are very organised and very determined.”

Evidence of the gang’s expertise included the precise amount of explosives need to blow up the gate and the fact that they had shot just above the heads of police.

Photo: Jonas Roux