In a film-like hostage-taking in Switzerland, a gang of thieves temporarily took control of the head of a watch company and his family and then fled with the company's gold.
According to media reports on Thursday, the crime occurred on Wednesday evening in Bassecourt in the northern canton of Jura, the center of the Swiss watch industry.
As the newspaper Le Matin reported, six gunmen threatened the director of an unnamed watch company in his apartment and took him and his whole family hostage.
Then the family was driven to the company premises, where they had to stay in the car at gunpoint while the criminals entered the premises and stole gold and other valuable raw materials.
How much gold they stole was still unclear, according to the prosecutor.
After the robbery, the thieves left the family unharmed but in shock with their car in a nearby forest and drove towards France, the newspaper reported.
The police and border officials, who have now been alerted, set up roadblocks at all border crossings, as Le Matin reported, citing public prosecutor Nicolas Theurillat.
The thieves, who fled in two vehicles, broke one of the roadblocks in Lucelle and injured an officer in the process.
The two vehicles were later found burned out in the Belfort region of France, along with an MP5 submachine gun.