Paris, Isère, Italy… The investigation into the theft of Banksy's work at the Bataclan, representing a sad young girl, will definitely have taken the investigators of the 2nd district of the Parisian judicial police on a journey.
After two years of investigation, the police have just arrested the last member of the commando suspected of having cut with a grinder the drawing of the street artist on the door of the tortured performance hall, on the night of January 25 to 26 2019.
According to a source close to the investigation, Danis D., 33, was arrested on March 10 in a Travelers' camp in Heyrieux (Isère) during a joint operation with the gendarmes of the specialized protection platoon. (PSPG) and the surveillance and intervention platoon (PSIG) of the department.
He was referred on March 11 with a view to being indicted before the Parisian judge in charge of the case.
In police custody, Danis D. acknowledged his participation in the scouting around the Bataclan and the theft of the work of art, which had been painted in tribute to the victims of the attacks of November 13, 2015. He nevertheless specified that he had not been paid for his role and said he was ignorant of the resale circuit for which it was intended, just as he refused to mention the action of his accomplices.
The thirty-something had been on the run since the first crackdown by the 2nd DPJ which led to the arrest of six men in June 2020. They were all indicted for organized robbery or concealment.
"The sad girl" found on a farm in Italy
The investigators had traced the trail of this Isère network, specializing in theft of opportunity, thanks to meticulous technical investigations: use of video surveillance in and around the Bataclan, identification of the Citroën used that evening by thieves, demarcations telephones and eavesdropping ... The investigations were accelerated at the beginning of the year 2020 after the gendarmes of Isère had arrested three men suspected of having robbed a DIY store in Grenay (Isère) a few days before the theft in Bataclan.
However, precisely, the thieves had stolen a disk-cutting machine.
And one of them would have bragged on wiretaps to have participated in a robbery in Paris ... Several of the suspects apparently have links with Italy.
On the basis of the information provided by the French police, the Italian police had ended up finding "The sad girl" in the attic of a farm in Abruzzo, not far from Rome.
"The work had been taken out of France to be hidden in Italy, but it was probably not intended for the Italian market but for another foreign market", explains a source close to the investigations.
Asia?
United States?
It is possible, but the suspects were not very verbose on this point.
The works of street artist Banksy, whose real identity is unknown, never cease to arouse fantasies and lusts.
According to specialists, they can easily cost several hundred thousand euros on the occult art market.
The Bataclan gate was finally returned to France in July 2020.
