Accused of being at the origin of a series of vehicle thefts in the Yvelines, a team of criminals has just been dismantled, wrote the Ministry of the Interior in a press release published this Friday, January 21.
“
Particularly organized and specialized in this type of fact
”, the ten individuals identified by the gendarmes of the Research Brigade (BR) would have stolen no less than 80 vehicles, for a total damage estimated at 1.6 million euros. .
Read alsoCar theft: the ravages of “
mouse-jacking
”
Aged in their 40s, the defendants were all “
very unfavorably known from the court documentation
”. A preliminary investigation, carried out under the direction of the parquet floor of the judicial court of Versailles, had made it possible to establish their very computerized mode of operation, in particular thanks to video surveillance images. Called “
mouse jacking
”, this technique allowed them to “
enter the vehicle without breaking
in” and in just a few minutes. Once stolen, the two-wheelers were then exported to Africa in containers. The cars, of French brand mainly from the PSA group, were dismantled and exported by spare parts to Poland.
An operational device was triggered on January 17 in order to “
put an end to this phenomenon
”.
The intervention of 150 gendarmes thus made it possible to put the criminals "
out of harm's way
".
The searches carried out also revealed weapons, 4 stolen vehicles, 24,450 euros, jewelry and narcotics.