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Raiders carrying machine guns and wearing face masks today escaped with thousands of pounds worth of cash from an upmarket casino.
The five commando-style robbers attacked Le Pharaon, in the eastern France city of Lyon, at around 3am, before escaping in a high-powered sports car.
It is the second time in as many weekends that robbers have targeted a casino in such a way - prompting police to believe the same gang might be responsible.
Five commando-style robbers attacked Le Pharaon in Lyon at 3am today. They made off with at least €30,000
Gamblers screamed in horror as they burst through the doors of the main playing room, knocking security guards to the ground and shouting instructions.
‘They got everybody on to floor and started filling rucksacks with cash and valuable stolen from safes, and from players,' said a Lyon police spokesman.
‘They got away with at least thirty thousand euros in cash and then made their escape. Nobody was seriously hurt, although one security guard was roughed up after trying to intervene.'
There were some 400 people in the packed casino at the time of the raid, which was over in less than three minutes.
There were around 400 people in the casino at the time of the raid, which was over in three minutes
Last weekend masked gunmen got away with thousands of pounds in a similar pre-dawn raid on a casino in nearby Switzerland, escaping in two top-of-the-range Audis.
About 600 gamblers and staff were in the Basel Grand Casino at 4am on Sunday when the ten robbers smashed a sealed outer door with a sledge hammer and fired shots into the air.
'It was like an action film heist,' said a spokesman for the Basel prosecutor's office, who said all the raiders spoke French, had French number plates and appeared to flee in the direction of the French border, which was 200 metres from the casino.
Again, nobody was seriously injured.
The Lyon police spokesman said a link between the two raids ‘could not be ruled out.'
