Spectacular holdups take place in France all the time.

Cigarettes

As taxes climb, cigarettes become valuable contraband.

On October 22, while patrolling in the early morning hours, the gendarmes found a man handcuffed to a road sign, wearing a ski mask. After they freed him, they learned that he was a trucker, transporting a cargo of cigarettes during the night.

During the ride, highwaymen blocked the truck, abducted the driver, and unloaded more than 400 cartons of cigarettes. Fortunately, the driver wasn’t injured, only tied up by the side of the road.

Banks

French banks are heavily fortified to discourage robbers. In any event, they tend not to have much cash on hand.

ATM machines constitute an exception. The machines are heavily protected. But ATM machines outside bank branches have a weak point: the moment when a bank employee supplies the ATM machine with cash.

Robbers have been quick to exploit this weakness. Their method: when the time is right, they drive a vehicle, such as a 4×4, through a plate-glass window, then seize the cash and take flight.

This happens about once a week in France. Recent attempts on October 6 or 14 have ended in failure. In the October 14 attempt, at the place Félix-Eboué in the 12th arrondissement, the frustrated bandits set fire to their vehicle, then took flight on scooters.