It is an obscure story where money laundering and violence intermingle.
Guerlain, a 31-year-old fellow, was kept in custody by the magistrates of the Paris investigative chamber on Friday 7 May 2021.
He is suspected of having with two accomplices kidnapped and kidnapped an 18-year-old young man in January 2020 before being arrested at the Porte d'Italie (Paris XIIIe).
"The investigation is complete, explains a source close to the case, but the legal outcome is not yet known."
It all started on January 16, 2020 when this young high school student, originally from Villepinte (Seine-Saint-Denis) agrees to run an errand for his father.
That evening on Boulevard Magenta (Xe), he was surprised by the big arms that forced him to get into a car.
"You go upstairs or we kill your father," threatens one of them.
The kidnappers contacted the latter, who had businesses in this area of Paris, and demanded that he pay them a ransom of 50,000 euros against the release of his son.
The victim's father warns the police and explains that these men asked him to cash a fraudulent check against a background of money laundering through construction companies.
The BRI invites itself to the exchange meeting
The young man is kept in a car by three criminals. They go to Angers (Maine-et-Loire) before returning to Paris. He is terribly distressed because one of the kidnappers shows off a weapon. Telephone conversations with the father are listened to and recorded by the police. The kidnappers threatened in front of "the victim to cut off a finger for each hour of delay in delivering the ransom", specifies a magistrate. The psychiatrist who examined him ensures that this mishap left traces in the mind of this boy who already suffered from a syndrome linked to abandonment during his childhood.
Quickly, the investigators of the second district of the judicial police, in charge of the investigation, identify the criminal, a certain Guerlain. This colossus, father of two, lives in Germany. He is a team leader on building sites. His criminal record is heavy with six convictions for cases of drug trafficking, threats, violence and refusal to comply. He's got it on with Tony. This 31-year-old Angevin works as a salesperson and is already known for fraud.
But the police, supported by their colleagues from the Research and Intervention Brigade (BRI) are maneuvering for the meeting to be organized Porte d'Italie, on January 17 at 5.30 p.m., in the thirteenth arrondissement of the capital.
While the two kidnappers and the victim arrive on the spot, the police put their hand to the collar before they have had time to make the slightest gesture.
The young man is released safe and sound.
"The little one was happy because he could even play with his cell phone"
The interrogations do not shed much light on the substance of the case. During his police custody and before the examining magistrate, Guerlain ensures that he was overwhelmed by the situation. “This is something that has not been thought through. We had no intention of harming him, ”he says. Tony regrets and considers that "the little one was treated well and that he was happy because he could even play on his cell phone". A third suspect will be arrested a few months later and disputes everything.
It remains to determine the motive for this kidnapping.
For Guerlain's counsel, Me Clara Auffret, the situation is simpler than it seems.
“The victim admitted that she had been in debt for many months and I think we should not speak of a ransom but more of a repayment.
They were not violent with the victim at most they were threatening. "
On the side of the general prosecutor's office, it is indeed "serious facts which largely traumatized a young man who wanted to be of service to his father by going to a banal meeting before being kidnapped and sequestered".
In addition, he recalls that investigations for money laundering are underway in Angers to try to understand the context in which this case fits, which remains unexplained today.
Guerlain is the only one to remain in prison, his two alleged accomplices have been released, under judicial supervision and with an electronic bracelet.
