• Sixteen burglaries or attempted burglaries had been perpetrated in reconditioning companies in the west of France in 2020 and 2021.

  • Eleven people, mostly of Romanian nationality, were arrested and remanded in custody.

  • For the companies concerned, the total amount of damage amounts to more than two million euros.

The case started in September 2020 when a Poilley company specializing in reconditioning iPhones was robbed.

In this small town located near Avranches (Manche), five people had cut the fence of the site then the cladding of a workshop to steal 2,600 reconditioned mobile phones or about to be.

Amount of damage: 320,000 euros.

The first elements collected by the gendarmes of Caen suggest that they are facing an organized criminal group based in Romania and which carries out burglaries throughout France, always targeting reconditioning companies.

Seizure of the investigation, the Specialized Interregional Jurisdiction (JIRS) of Rennes lists 16 burglaries or attempts in Ille-et-Vilaine, Loire-Atlantique, Maine-et-Loire but also in Indre-et-Loire and Gironde between September 2020 and October 2021.

More than 7,000 phones stolen in one year

Investigators estimate that a total of around 7,000 smartphones were stolen, representing a loss of two million euros for the victim companies.

According to Rennes public prosecutor Philippe Astruc, three men were quickly identified as suspects.

Based in Romania, they regularly travel to France to “recruit people from the Romanian community in order to commit the facts”.

The stolen phones have mostly been reactivated but are traveling to Britain, Italy or Romania.

“Five receivers from the same Afghan family thus sold the proceeds of the thefts”.

Three judicial police operations were carried out in Romania, England, France and Italy, resulting in the arrest of eleven people.

Ten men suspected of being the perpetrators of the burglaries or attempts, all of Romanian nationality and aged between 28 and 47, including six with criminal records including theft, have been indicted on charges of theft or attempted gang theft. organized and participation in a criminal association.

A 31-year-old man of Afghan nationality, with no criminal record, was indicted on charges of organized concealment, money laundering and participation in a criminal association.

All were remanded in custody.

“They incur the sentence of 15 years of criminal imprisonment”, specifies the prosecutor.

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  • Justice

  • Miscellaneous facts

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  • Heist

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