The Peugeot 3008 and 5008, sacred numbers for their owners… but also for car thieves.
These lion brand SUVs are among the most stolen cars in France.
Over the past year, several networks have been dismantled in the Paris region.
In a few weeks, four men will be tried at the Meaux court.
They were arrested on February 1 by gendarmes of the Meaux research brigade, suspected of having committed 10 thefts and 13 attempts since last June.
It was at this time that the military began to see the first complaints on their offices, especially in the north of Seine-et-Marne.
Victims are recorded in Moussy-le-Neuf, Meaux, Dammartin-en-Goële, Othis, Rouvres or even Le Plessis-Belleville (Oise) and Fontenay-en-Parisis in Val-d'Oise.
The modus operandi hardly varies.
Most of the time, thieves use a metal rod to get into the vehicle.
Then they either unplug the wires, or they use an encryption key that allows them to start the car.
Hardware and software often purchased discreetly on the Darknet.
At the end of the year, the investigation and fight group against property damage from the Meaux research brigade takes care of the various facts and sets out on the hunt.
Successful searches
After two months of investigations, they target four men, aged in their twenties and domiciled around Dammartin-en-Goële for three of them, and in a nearby department for the fourth, considered the chief. suspected of the band.
On Monday, February 1, the investigators take action and challenge the quartet.
The searches in the four homes proved successful.
In addition to nearly 1,700 euros in cash, the police found systems of trackers, extraction, icebreakers, in short, the necessary paraphernalia generally used by thieves.
At the end of their custody, two of them are imprisoned awaiting trial, the other two being placed under judicial supervision.
"These are vehicles that have a strong popularity for export, especially to Africa," says a soldier.
They are also very popular in Eastern Europe for their spare parts.
"