When the police entered the apartment that served as a nanny for the thug, in a sensitive area near the Saint-Charles train station in Marseille, they came across a real "Ali Baba's cave" with astonishment. , in the words of the divisional commissionaire David Brugère, head of the departmental security of Bouches-du-Rhône.
Mountains of suitcases, luxury bags, sunglasses, watches, designer shoes, cameras.
To this loot, the total value of which is estimated at around 150,000 euros, are added the 13,700 euros of banknotes found on the spot, and the 240,000 euros found in the bank accounts of the three protagonists.
A booty amassed only by flights with concealment in the first classes of TGV between Paris and Nice, and even as far as Geneva,
A 57-year-old man from the Alpes-Maritimes, made up as a woman with the help of a wig, took his place in TGVs, and discreetly, under the eyes of his neighbors, or furtively, in favor of a short absence from the latter seized their personal effects and other baggage.
He would then get off at the next station and flee, sometimes helped by an accomplice who was waiting for him in the car.
Another 40-year-old thief was also operating.
Both were aided by a 41-year-old fence.
The three individuals have already been convicted for similar acts.
An investigation since April
The investigation started last April, after a theft committed by one of the three suspects at the Aix-en-Provence TGV station.
The police, who know him from his judicial past, identify him on the CCTV cameras when he has just stolen a bag from a passenger with, inside, no less than 50,000 euros worth of jewelry. .
After several months of investigation, the Marseille police manage to get their hands on his two accomplices, one of whom was boarding a train in Bourg-en-Bresse bound for Geneva.
During their police custody, the three men explained that they had been acting for five to six years and did not give any explanations on their way of selling this stolen goods.
It remains for the investigators to find the owners of the many stolen objects.
“There are at least a hundred victims Victims who are furthermore disseminated to the four corners of France and beyond”.
Thus, the owner of a watch worth 70,000 euros stolen during the Cannes Film Festival in 2019 was found… in San Francisco.
Justice
Rennes: Four years in prison and a Maserati confiscated for the serial phone thief
Miscellaneous facts
Loire-Atlantique: Witness to a burglary, a "vigilant neighbor" between life and death
Miscellaneous facts