Four people were victims of snatching a few days apart in Béziers, Cers, a town in Hérault, and Coursan, near Narbonne, in Aude.
The victims all had in common that they had previously played in the casino before returning home.
The first three had spent the evening at the Valras-Plage casino on August 19 and 24.
The fourth, assaulted after being gassed, was returning from the Gruissan casino.
“The numerous investigations quickly carried out by the police and the gendarmes made it possible to identify three suspicious couples, from the same family of the Traveler community and domiciled in Narbonne”, explains the public prosecutor of Béziers, Raphaël Balland.
The main perpetrator allegedly acted under duress
While in police custody, two other men were named as the perpetrators of the thefts by several suspects.
Arrested, one of them would have confessed to the attacks, explaining that he had acted "under the duress of others in custody to whom he had a drug debt".
The three women were released.
The five men were placed in detention by the judge of freedoms and detention pending their trial in immediate appearance, this Friday, before the criminal court of Béziers.
They incur a ten-year prison sentence for thefts with violence and in meetings resulting in ITTs of less than eight days.
Miscellaneous facts
Gard: A suspect arrested after the robbery of a casino this weekend
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Alès: The casino robbed by an armed commando
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Occitania
Languedoc Roussillon
Narbonne
Beziers
Casino