Explosives belt strapped to driver during robbery

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Four men strapped an explosive belt to a cash transport driver and forced him to empty a string of cash machines, a French newspaper reports.

The incident was the third of its kind in the Paris region in recent months, Le Parisien du Dimanche said.

The perpetrators rammed the cash delivery vehicle with their car on Saturday. When the driver emerged from the van, they forced an explosive belt onto him.

For the following hour, they made the driver continue his route but had him empty the cash machines he was supposed to be topping up.

The men remain on the run on Sunday.

Investigators said the explosive belt may have been a fake, and that similar recent events were probably not carried out by the same gang.

"The robbers may have been inspired by recent events," a police union representative told the newspaper.

On Monday, two men were arrested after fixing an explosive belt to a cash transporter, demanding 600,000 euros (NZ$1.01 million), while a gang escaped with 250,000 euros in a similar heist in mid-July.

Last week in Sydney, a fake explosive device was strapped around the neck of the 18-year-old daughter of a wealthy family in an apparent attempt at extortion. The perpetrator has not been found.

-AAP