Like the “Mozart of the burglary” caught in 2016 after a false note when leaving an apartment he had just visited in the 16th arrondissement, Hervé H., 56, is part of the aristocracy of theft.
One of the few people in the country who uses very high level techniques to enter any dwelling.
Rare skills that did not allow him to escape the police of the Brigade for the repression of banditry (BRB).
Last week, the group specializing in aggravated thefts arrested him in the street just after the burglary of an opulent apartment in the 7th arrondissement.
He was accompanied by a suspected accomplice.
Like his colleague arrested in 2016, Hervé H. was arrested with high-end equipment that few offenders use.
Medical equipment used
He carried an "umbrella" - a brass tool with thin metal strips - and an otoscope, a medical device used by ENTs to examine the ears of their patients.
This kit would have enabled him to open the security door of the house on December 31.
He was due to appear on January 2.
But he preferred to be tried later.
In the meantime, he has been released and placed under judicial supervision.
The court was less lenient with his accomplice, 27 years old.
This inhabitant of Val-d'Oise, who was already under an electronic bracelet, was placed in pre-trial detention.
An upsurge in break-ins in December
This afternoon of December 31, the BRB police placed a device in the Invalides district.
Since the deconfinement of mid-December, burglaries have increased (+ 39% over the entire month in France compared to November according to figures released Thursday by the Ministry of the Interior).
And this district stirs up more envy.
In their vehicle, investigators tick off a Kangoo utility with two men on board.
The suspects enter a Haussmann building.
They come out almost an hour later.
One of them is carrying a bag which he did not have when he entered.
The police rush to check that there has been a burglary and stop the two men a few moments later nearby.
“These are professionals;
they put up no resistance, ”blows a source close to the investigation.
Involved in around 40 cases
In the bag, jewelry and currency.
The damage would be around 20,000 euros.
The “break-in clinician” equipment is seized.
In addition to the otoscope, to examine the type of lock, there was therefore an “umbrella” but also two passes allowing the doors to the halls of buildings to be opened for three days.
In the pockets of the old-fashioned burglar, police found documents scribbled on a mysterious list with a series of letters and numbers.
"It is also a trick of professionals, decrypts the same source.
This makes it possible to note targets while remaining secret.
"
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During their custody, the two men confessed, according to a source close to the investigation.
And to underline that Hervé H. is "ultra-famous".
He has already been involved in about 40 cases of the same type.