The Grenoble gendarmerie dismantled a network of theft and resale of Renault Mégane RS vehicles, which operated between August and October 2024 in several departments. The police thus discovered a meticulous and well-established criminal organization, as detailed by Éric Vaillant, public prosecutor of Grenoble, this Tuesday.
The first Mégane RS flights were recorded at the end of August, with a notable case in Villard-de-Lans (Isère), where “a first car of this type was stolen from a parking lot”according to the prosecutor’s press release. Investigators quickly linked this theft to another vehicle theft, committed the same night in Moirans, also in Isère, where another Renault of the same model had been stolen. The gendarmerie noted that the thieves systematically operated at night, with speed and efficiency allowing them to minimize the clues left at the scene of the misdeeds.
A resale network extended to the South of France
Investigations by the Grenoble research brigade made it possible to link a total of ten thefts of similar vehicles, the majority concentrated around the Vercors plateau. “These criminals took extreme precautions to hide their misdeeds”indicates the press release. The network, whose resale activities extended to the South of France, resold the cars for a few thousand euros, notably via a Telegram group.
The case took on a new dimension after the theft of a Renault Clio RS at the end of October in Fontvieille (Bouches-du-Rhône), a vehicle which was quickly resold in Alès (Gard) after a short passage through Grenoble. This operation precipitated the intervention of the police: on November 4, four individuals were arrested, three in the Grenoble area and one in Saint-Gilles (Gard), and placed in police custody. The searches carried out by the gendarmerie made it possible to seize equipment used to steal vehicles, in particular a key programmer, as well as a sum of 7,400 euros in cash. “Weapons and ammunition were also discovered and seized”specifies prosecutor Éric Vaillant.
The complexity of this case required the collaboration of various gendarmerie units, including an expertise unit from the Criminal Research Institute of the National Gendarmerie (IRCGN), which contributed to the technical analyses. “All the gendarmes of the Grenoble company” were mobilized for this operation, adds the prosecutor.
The two main suspects imprisoned
At the end of police custody, on November 8, three of the four individuals were brought to appear immediately for “theft from a meeting, receiving stolen property, participation in a criminal association”. The two main defendants, aged around twenty and from Grenoble, were finally placed in pre-trial detention pending their judgment, scheduled for January 13. A third suspect, domiciled in Gard, was placed under judicial supervision. As for the fourth individual, also from the Grenoble metropolis and aged 27, he will be summoned at a later date.
