They only had eyes for two models.
Two Toyota SUVs, the RAV4 and the C-HR, well known on the market and easily resold.
Seven young men, including a teenager, were arrested after a series of thefts committed against owners of Japanese brand cars in Île-de-France.
This investigation started a few months ago in Essonne.
Police officers from the SD (departmental security) property crime group observed a succession of similar thefts in 91. Individuals woke up to realize that their car, parked in the street or in a parking lot, had disappeared.
Night flights
“Cars were always stolen at night, on public roads.
They often used fake remote keys,” describes a police source.
Or the now famous technique of “
mouse jacking
”, when thieves replicate a contactless key and thus jam the electronic system of a vehicle, in order to gain access.
A way to get hold of it without forcing the door or breaking the window.
Read also Ile-de-France: the gang of thieves of around thirty Japanese cars arrested
The surveillance work of the investigators proves instructive.
The police identify and follow a gang of seven people.
The team of criminals acts in Essonne, but not only: Val-de-Marne, Seine-Saint-Denis, Hauts-de-Seine… Almost the entire region is concerned.
So much so that at the start of 2024, the police recorded 19 thefts of Toyota SUVs attributable to this team.
The investigation took place during the night of January 22 to 23.
In a hideout in Saint-Michel-sur-Orge (Essonne), SD agents arrest some of the suspects in flagrante delicto.
The rest will be arrested early in the morning at home.
The seven people are then placed in police custody before being presented to the Évry-Courcouronnes public prosecutor's office.
All come from Seine-Saint-Denis or Val-d'Oise.
The youngest is 17, the oldest, 24. Investigators attribute 19 thefts to them, but the figure could be much higher.
Four suspects incarcerated
The unit value of the targeted Toyota SUVs ranges between 40,000 and 60,000 euros, depending on the model.
The total damage from the case would thus be close to one million euros.
At the same time, two vehicles that may have been used in the thefts were seized, as well as designer clothing.
Furthermore, the courts ordered the freezing of a bank account with a sum of 45,000 euros belonging to one of the co-perpetrators.
“This type of network targets models that sell well on the black market,” continues our source.
Often, the vehicles are intended for the African continent.
» This was the case this fall, when the police dismantled a network of criminals who exported SUVs between Essonne and Dakar (Senegal),
via
the port of Le Havre.
As part of the latest case, four of the suspects were placed in pre-trial detention pending their presentation before the Évry court on Tuesday January 30, for immediate appearance.
Two others were placed under judicial supervision.
Finally, the 17-year-old minor was presented to the Pontoise court (Val-d'Oise).
He will be judged later.