End of game for South American burglars. Three men and a woman, aged 20 to 43, were presented on Monday before the criminal court of Versailles (Yvelines). They were to be judged for two burglaries committed on April 19 in Bougival and May 2 in Mitry-Mory (Seine-et-Marne) for damage of around 10,000 euros in jewelry and valuables. But the judges ordered the case to be adjourned until June 17 because the civil parties had not been notified. In the meantime, the three men are in prison and the woman has been released under judicial supervision.
The team was arrested on Friday morning by investigators from the anti-banditry brigade (BRB) from Versailles to Livry-Gargan (Seine-Saint-Denis) while they were leaving by car for a new criminal journey.
It was in the middle of April that the police received information concerning this group of theft professionals, who had arrived in France two weeks ago from Germany, to attack the property of residents. from the Paris region. The burglars have just broken a house near Bougival. “The method is as crude as it is effective,” underlines a Source close to the case. They drive around, do some scouting and attack houses and businesses when they are empty.” The officials put the thieves under surveillance. They go to Compiègne (Oise) and Mitry-Mory where he breaks up a second house. The car still crisscrosses the region as far as Les Ulis (Essonne) and in particular the Courtaboeuf business area in Saclay, undoubtedly in the hope of attacking a company.
On May 3, the police decided to whistle the end of recess. They call out to the quartet on the road as they leave to lead a new business. These men and this woman who say they are Chilean, Peruvian and Cuban were placed in police custody in the brigade’s premises. During the hearings, the suspects half-heartedly admitted their involvement in these two thefts. They are all known to European police forces. The woman was even under judicial control with a ban on leaving Switzerland.
South American burglars are now a regular component of organized crime in the Paris region. Since 2018, these raiding specialists have been coming to Western European countries for a few days. They arrive by plane via Spain and sometimes benefit from help from the diaspora there to find accommodation, a car or a fence. These men and women target homes and businesses and are often known to be criminals already well established in delinquency in their country of origin. The Paris judicial police dismantle around one team per month and the justice system deals with them, in a short circuit with immediate appearances, where they often go to prison.
