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| -Lurid Crime Tales- | |
| Primark store siege: Police hunt for gunmen in France | |
| 2015-07-14 | |
| [FINANCIALEXPRESS] French police are hunting for the three gunnies who barged into a Primark store near Gay Paree in a suspected robbery attempt. According to the BBC, the gunnies escaped the scene after special forces evacuated 18 people trapped inside the Qwartz shopping centre in Villeneuve-la-Garenne. The area around the shopping centre has been shut down. The shopping center and surrounding area are closed to the public because of the security operation, said police. The siege comes a day before the Bastille Day celebrations in the country.
The three men -- one of whom was thought to be an employee of the shop -- burst into the Primark store in Villeneuve-la-Garenne early Monday, said a police source who wished to remain anonymous. But while security forces initially thought the gunmen were still inside the mall, they realized after searching the premises that the men had escaped. The suspects "appear to have run away, and the search continues outside the mall," a source close to the probe said. Prosecutors added they did not appear to have fled with any money. - 'This is a hold-up' - Memories of attacks in January by Islamic extremists who gunned down 17 people in and near Paris -- including several who were held hostage in a Jewish supermarket -- are still fresh in many minds in France. France, and the Paris area in particular, remains on high alert with some 7,000 soldiers deployed around the country to help police in countering any further attack. But so far police have indicated Monday's attack was a common armed robbery. "I saw two robbers, dressed in black, hooded. They were calm, not in a hurry," said Bruno Jahin, a 20-year-old witness. "The tallest... had a gun, I think it was a pump-action shotgun. The other man was smaller. "I heard 'this is a hold-up, you must go' several times... I turned around and took the lift," he said. "They were definitely looking for money, it's a store that is doing very well." A London-based spokesman for Primark, a low-cost clothing store that has been a huge success in Britain, confirmed there had been an "incident" at its store, which is located just north of Paris. | |
| Posted by:Fred |