Seven people suspected of belonging to a network of traffickers of cars stolen mainly in the Paris suburbs and then shipped to Africa were indicted in Versailles on Friday December 11 and four of them placed in detention, AFP learned with the gendarmes.
Read also: Trafficking in stolen cars: 10 people, including a police officer, indicted
The investigation began in June after the discovery, in the village of Saulx-Marchais (Yvelines), of two containers loaded with three cars "
stolen the day before
" in Yvelines, Paris and Eure-et-Loir, explained investigators from the research section of the Versailles gendarmerie.
Seven months later, it is "
a particularly organized network
" that the gendarmes put together.
These members, aged 20 to 35 years and mostly established in Seine-Saint-Denis, stole cars at night using a well-established technique.
First, they “
make a discreet break-in on one of the doors and then connect a computer to the vehicle's diagnostic socket on which illegally acquired reprogramming software was installed.
In a few minutes, the vehicle is reprogrammed and has a new key,
”detailed the investigators.
Read also: What are the most stolen car models?
The car is then recovered later in the night by "
little hands (...) paid around fifty euros per vehicle moved
" then left parked on the public road for several days or weeks, with, in general, a new license plate.
After a while, when traffickers felt that the car was no longer "
traceable
", other members of the network loaded them into containers shipped by sea to Africa.
In total, investigators identified more than thirty thefts, mostly SUV models, in Hauts-de-Seine, Yvelines, Paris, Val-de-Marne, Eure-et-Loir and Seine. -and-Marne.
