The announcement of the disappearance of self-service electric scooters from the streets of Paris on September 1 was seen as a godsend by some. Throughout the summer, the company Lime, one of the operators in the capital, has seen a dramatic increase in battery theft. The company raised the alarm in July. The gendarmes of the air transport research section (SRGTA) seized the case. Some nights, up to 200 batteries disappear.
The investigation lasted all summer. Six people were arrested last Thursday for robbery in an organized gang and receiving theft in an organized gang. Since July 1, they spent their evenings stealing the batteries of Lime electric scooters.
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The gendarmes are gradually traced back to former or current employees of Lime subcontractors. They knew the procedure to easily remove the batteries from these devices. In total, nearly 3,000 batteries were stolen, for an immediate financial loss of 2 million euros without taking into account the loss of profit due to the operating loss.
"The investigations carried out by the Research Section of the Paris Gendarmerie under the direction of the Paris Public Prosecutor's Office, co-seized with the Air Transport Research Section, led to the identification of two main organizers and four habitual thieves, involved in an organization of flights usually followed by a rapid flow of the proceeds of the offense to Eastern Europe," details the Paris prosecutor's office. On site, the batteries were either dismantled for their metals or reconditioned for reuse.