A daring daytime attack on an armored van transporting money in southern Paris on Monday morning ended in failure and the robbers escaped with empty hands after a spell of shooting, the police said.
Seven or eight gunmen driving two light trucks blocked the money transporter several hundred meters away from the Porte of Orleans in south
Paris' 14th arrondissement around 8 a.m. local time, Paris police director Christian Lambert told reporters at the site.
The escorting driver broke the siege by reversing the targeted armored van to knock off one truck blocking its back way, Lambert said.
Fortunately, no one was injured during the exchange of fire, and the heisters fled empty-handed after only breaking the armored van's tires.
According to local media reports, this was the second such heist after several armed robbers hijacked an armored van on Sept. 7, resulting in a big loss of jewelry and gold.
The police administration has launched an anti-armed-robbery plan in regions around the Paris metropolitan area, namely the Island of France.