the essential
A phenomenon on a national scale, agricultural GPS thefts have intensified in recent weeks in Haute-Garonne. The gendarmerie tries to follow the lines and the victim operators get annoyed, against the thieves and the builders.
A few minutes are enough. “They know how to do it and they go quickly,” lament the victim farmers. For several months, but with an acceleration in recent weeks, GPS thefts have been increasing among farmers in the department. Volvestre and Comminges before summer, Lauragais and the north-east of the department in recent weeks. More than fifty thefts have already been noted.
“These are raids,” warns a farmer. “When I was a victim at the end of October, in the same area around Verfeil, five or six colleagues were also targeted.” Thieves take advantage of the night to slip into farms, force tractors or harvesters, dismantle antennas and screens and disappear. “For complete equipment, the latest versions, you need to count between €15,000 and €20,000. There are cheaper models, but with each flight, this constitutes a significant loss, especially if they damage the connections,” note the farmers. who try to organize themselves to counter these unpleasant visits. “We communicate via dedicated groups but it’s not easy,” warns a victim.
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Destinations Eastern countries
The Haute-Garonne gendarmerie, like its neighbors in the Gers, Tarn or Tarn-et-Garonne groups, is carrying out investigations to trace the networks. A complicated, in-depth work which has so far not been successful, despite the mobilization of specialized investigation groups. Investigations carried out in recent months in the west of France but also in Alsace have allowed investigators to identify groups from Eastern countries.
“It seems that the stolen equipment works in Lithuania or Romania,” says a farmer. These destinations were in fact identified in particular by the investigative work carried out by the gendarmerie under the authority of the Versailles Research Section. “There are certainly different teams and sectors from Eastern countries,” says an investigator who works on the phenomenon in the South-West.
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To escape theft, many farmers dismantle their devices in the evening. Operators would like manufacturers to find solutions to block machines remotely in the event of theft. “Technically it must be possible, and not even very complicated but despite the requests, there is no progress”, regret the operators who suspect the equipment manufacturers of not worrying about the phenomenon. “In the event of theft, we renew our equipment. For them, this does not constitute a loss, on the contrary.”
This is not the case for insurers. An operator from Bonrepos-Riquet, a victim of theft twice this year, is worried: “Are they going to continue to reimburse? If it continues at this rate, I'm not sure.”
Dismantle, the only effective solution
Faced with the wave of thefts, farmers have not found a better solution: dismantle their devices to keep them safe in their homes. “It is the best solution, the only truly effective one,” concedes the Chamber of Agriculture.
The majority of flights take place at night. During the day, it would be “exceptional”. In neighboring Gers, operators had placed their tractors under lock and key for the night, in a shed. The “visitors” broke into the shelter and left with all the equipment. And there is no question of leaving tractor and harvester in a field, far from homes.
“It is better to waste 10 minutes removing the GPS in the evening after a day's work than to discover a new theft in the early morning,” concedes an observer who regrets the past years, “when the old ones left the keys on the tractor without fear to see it disappear!”
