The “Place Nette” operations carried out on April 29 and 30 by the gendarmes mobilized 230 soldiers over the two days. The Charentais-Maritime workforce was reinforced by two mobile gendarmerie platoons and the surveillance and protection platoon of the Civaux gendarmerie (Vienna), as well as special resources (five dog teams, a helicopter, a drone). Other State services provided assistance in the various operations (Customs, DREAL, BCR, URSSAF).
Searches were carried out in the towns of Rochefort and Saint-Jean-d’Angély within the jurisdiction of the Saintes judicial court for irregular waste management, violations of drug legislation and threats of death with weapons. The searches led to the seizure of bank accounts worth 17,800 euros, the seizure of a category C weapon and a vehicle. 6.5 kg of cannabis were also discovered during a road check in connection with the customs administration. The two defendants were incarcerated pending their immediate trial.
Furthermore, the gendarmes have taken over two Traveler camps in the La Rochelle area, as part of a investigation into organized theft and criminal conspiracy for burglaries committed across a large part of Charente-Maritime. Eight people were arrested. Four were placed in pre-trial detention. The eight defendants will be judged on June 17 in La Rochelle.
Eric Le Bihan
175 sealed in the procedure
The soldiers got their hands on nearly 43,865 euros in cash, 42 portable electrical equipment, a Vuitton trunk, jewelry, telephones, perfume and branded glasses. In total, 115 gendarmes were mobilized for this double raid. Two gendarmerie platoons to secure the searched locationsas well as the four PSIG of Charente-Maritime (Rochefort, Saintes, Saint-Jean-d’Angély and La Rochelle).
Captain Dany Vanhovesecond in command of the La Rochelle gendarmerie company, takes stock of this judicial police operation (OPJ). “Among the objectives, we had identified a receiver. At his place, we found everything related to portable tools, currently being identified. I have 175 seals in the procedure, approximately 120 are being identified to determine whether they are of fraudulent origin or not. Where you see little white sheets, that means the owners have been identified. When there is a burglary, we go back to the databaseswe consult the files and we contact the victims”specifies Captain Vanhove.
Eric Le Bihan
“All this requires significant resources”
In addition to legal operations, flow controls were carried out on key roads in the department, as well as on the Saintes/Niort SNCF line by the Saint-Jean-d’Angély gendarmerie company. 720 people and 667 vehicles were checked, revealing 54 traffic violations including seven offenses (driving without a license, driving under drugs, transporting drugs, driving under the influence of alcohol).
“Clean Square” operations allow you to strike wide and hard. “The “Place Net” operations are the multiplication of resources in terms of gendarmerie or police personnel. They are the result of several weeks of work and result in multiple arrests. These are also requisitions for mass identity or vehicle checks which make it possible to uncover a certain number of offenses. All this requires significant resources. precise Arnaud Laraize, the public prosecutor of La Rochelle.
