They are suspected of having embezzled thousands of lipsticks, mascaras, skincare creams and perfumes from prestigious brands such as Chanel, Hermès and Dior.
Five people aged 29 to 71 were arrested on March 6 in Seine-et-Marne, Paris, Seine-Saint-Denis, Val-de-Marne and Eure.
Presented to a judge at the end of their police custody, the suspects - with no criminal record - were placed under judicial supervision pending their trial before the Melun court on August 27.
They will be tried for
“organized gang theft”
,
“organized gang receiving stolen goods”
and
“criminal association”
.
“At the heart of this system, two retirees of Cambodian nationality, whose wife is a former order picker on a cosmetics production site
,” indicates the gendarmerie to Le
Figaro
.
According to the elements brought to light by the Versailles research section, the septuagenarian had kept contacts within her former company.
The latter - notably the employee of a logistics site - helped him recover products diverted from the production line.
Thanks to her accomplices, she obtained
“entire boxes of beauty products”
.
Over ten months, thousands of creams, perfumes and makeup products from luxury brands were diverted, earning the main suspects
“several hundred thousand euros”
.
The diverted cosmetics were resold on the French parallel market but also shipped to Vietnam.
The searches carried out at the traffickers led to the seizure of more than 3,000 cosmetic products with an estimated value of 170,000 euros, 18,500 euros in cash and four firearms.