seven suspects indicted for major international car trafficking

Seven men were indicted on Friday September 15 for theft and concealment of organized theft, franceinfo learned from the Paris prosecutor’s office. They are suspected of having stolen at least 170 cars in Ile-de-France, Switzerland, Belgium and Germany to export them to West Africa. Four of them were placed in pre-trial detention.

Theft of “SUVs” and “luxury vehicles”

Among them, some are suspected of having been the “coordinators” of a “mobile and flexible criminal structure” European, details a police source. From West Africa, customers were passing “orders” cars, including “SUVs” and “luxury vehicles”. Then, these coordinators dispatched different teams of thieves.

The stolen cars were then transferred “by young conveyors”, in Belgium, Germany or in French ports for “put them in containers destined for West Africa”, details a police source. Three containers, which transported a total of nine stolen cars, were also intercepted at the ports of Le Havre and Las Palmas, in Spain.

Two years of investigation

“What stands out in this affair is the volume of vehicles which passed into the hands of the network and the international aspect”, says Commissioner Guillaume Maniglier, deputy head of the Central Office for the Fight against Organized Crime (Oclco), in charge of the investigation, which lasted two years.

One of the alleged organizers, an undocumented Senegalese, was arrested in Gif-sur-Yvette (Essonne). During the searches, investigators found a lot of equipment used for car theft such as copies of vehicle ignition keys, screwdrivers and even riveters.