After the Ardèche a few weeks ago, a new sabotage of antenna relay has just been clarified, this time in the North, after weeks of a meticulous investigation by the Lille YP. With suspects evolving in a protest movement on the margins of the ultra-left and "ultra-yellow".
Read also: Fiber optics, antennas, pylons ... The worrying increase in acts of vandalism
The business began on the night of May 2 to 3 with the fire of an antenna in the industrial zone of Douai-Dorignies. The damage is significant (from 300,000 to 500,000 euros) and the hypothesis of an arson preferred. Because of the multiplication in France of such actions, which worries the authorities, and of sensitive and complex investigations, the interregional direction of the judicial police of Lille is seized by the parquet floor of Douai. Traces of petrol confirm the criminal track. Then begins an environment and neighborhood survey. CCTV cameras from a company near the scene of the fire make it possible to identify three individuals in a vehicle whose characteristics are noted. But its license plate is illegible and its occupants not identifiable.
The investigators of the criminal brigade persevere and, thanks to the information gathered during the checks carried out during the confinement, find the car. Its owner is close to the violent protest movement. Physical surveillance identified a group of six suspects who met regularly: four men, including the owner of the car, aged 22 to 32, a minor aged 16 and a woman. All close to this same movement. Gravitating essentially in the circles of the ultra-left or in the "ultra-yellow", one of them having also flirted with ... the extreme right.
"A manipulable" workforce ""
Source close to the file, the suspects, between unemployment, odd jobs and social assistance, "do not have a solid ideology, are motivated by a primary opposition and form a" workforce "manipulated by even more dangerous extremists " . Some are known to the intelligence services and have been worried about the deterioration of public property, obstructions to movement and participation in a group with a view to committing violence during rallies of "yellow vests" and other parades against the police or racism. Investigators identify the direct perpetrators of the sabotage and their accomplices. On June 30, the suspects were arrested in the greater Lille metropolis and in Pas-de-Calais.
They remain silent while in police custody. The woman is released. Referred this Thursday to the prosecution of Bethune, the minor is indicted for destruction of property in an organized gang and association of criminals with a view to committing an offense and placed under judicial supervision. On the same day, the four adults were referred to the Douai prosecution. One locked up and the other three placed under judicial supervision, they will be tried on July 30 by the Douai court. After weeks of surveillance, the investigators of the PJ are convinced that the group, which would have carried out searches, was preparing other sabotages.
