A manhunt has been launched for three men who stole up to £23 million from an armoured van in Switzerland , after taking the daughter of a security guard hostage.
The 22-year-old woman was later released unhurt but the men fled the canton of Vaud with the money.
Posing as plumbers, two men kidnapped the young woman from her apartment in Lyon in southeast France , a source close to the investigation told the Agence France Presse news agency.
Accomplices then rang her father – who works for a Swiss money transportation company – to demand a ransom.
He and a second man were carrying out a cash delivery in an armoured van just north of Lausanne, Switzerland at the time and agreed to meet the kidnappers in a car park close to the border with France.
They were met by several armed men, who were dressed in black and wore hoods and gloves. They were forced to hand over the contents of the van, which was reportedly carrying between 20 and 30 million Swiss francs (between £15.4 million and £23 million).
The men fled the scene in a dark-coloured Porsche SUV, Swiss police said.
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The daughter was later released by her captors and questioned. She was said to be in a state of shock.
No arrests have yet been made.
Appealing for witnesses investigators said they were searching for three men with accented French, “perhaps from the south of France or from North Africa”.
Agencies contributed to this report
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