• Four young people from the Lens region will be tried for a series of break-ins committed in January and February 2020.

  • All these thefts were perpetrated using cars stolen during a home jacking at a private home in the Lille suburbs.

  • The criminals were arrested thanks to the meticulous work of the forensic science on two of the three stolen vehicles.

The police in the North have put an end to the activities of a band of thieves specializing in tobacco shops, we learned on Wednesday from the Lille prosecutor's office.

Four of the accused were remanded in custody pending trial.

Their loss, the suspects signed it almost two years ago, when they stole the vehicles of a private individual living in Wattignies, near Lille.

On January 20, 2020, four people dressed in black, hooded and wearing gloves, broke into the victim's home, forcing the door with a crowbar.

The thieves tied her up before grabbing the keys to three large-capacity cars and fleeing in them.

Valuable clues collected in cars

These are the same cars that were involved in break-ins and attempted break-ins during the months of January and February of the same year.

The thugs mainly targeted tobacco shops located in the North and Pas-de-Calais, ensures the prosecutor of Lille, Carole Etienne.

Some time later, two of the three cars stolen from Wattignies were found by the police in Belgium.

A mine of clues for technical and scientific police officers.

After several months of investigation, five individuals were identified.

All were in their twenties and lived around Lens, in Pas-de-Calais.

On October 20, a simultaneous operation led to the arrest of all the suspects.

After three days in police custody, one was exonerated.

The other four were brought before the Lille prosecutor's office.

They will be tried on November 18 by the Lille Criminal Court for around fifteen organized robberies.

Three were remanded in custody and the last released under judicial supervision.

Miscellaneous

North: Race between a minor in a stolen car and the police

Justice

Tourcoing: Two liberal nurses suspected of having defrauded 680,000 euros from the CPAM

  • Robbery

  • Investigation

  • Miscellaneous

  • Justice