Six Romanians have been indicted for thefts of engines and boat equipment spanning more than a year in several departments including Gironde, with damage estimated at 320,000 euros, we learned on Saturday from the police station.
Spotted in France at the end of September on their return from Romania where they had spent the summer, these six individuals, "particularly mobile" and who had a "foothold" near Langon (Gironde), were arrested early Wednesday morning a few hours after “an attempted robbery on a nautical business in Gironde”.
“Roaming Organized Criminal Group”
They are suspected of having stolen "several dozen" motors and bases (motor base) and "some high-value portable electrical equipment" for an estimated amount of more than 320,000 euros, explained Colonel Jean-Charles Bidaut, commander of the research section of Bordeaux, which investigates with the brigade of Langon-Toulenne.
According to the gendarmerie, the investigation started in September 2021 had made it possible to identify a "roving organized criminal group" composed of "three experienced main perpetrators" and "several accomplices" helping to make and store the stolen goods, which was transported by carriers to Romania, where the engines were resold.
“Probable that we can charge them with other thefts”
The members of this group "moved a lot in Romania and across Europe, it is likely that we can attribute to them other thefts elsewhere (than in France)", underlined Colonel Jean-Charles Bidaut, according to whom the investigation required “a lot of monitoring work”.
According to the gendarmerie, the six arrested acted mainly in Gironde but also in Landes, Loire-Atlantique and Lot.
They acknowledged "largely" their involvement during their hearings.
Presented to an investigating judge of the Interregional Specialized Jurisdiction (Jirs) of Bordeaux, seized after the opening of a judicial investigation in April, they were indicted for "theft and concealment in an organized gang".
Two of them were imprisoned, the others placed under judicial supervision.
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