On the night of September 5 to 6, 2024, a legal operation carried out by the Metz Research Brigade (BR), under the authority of the Metz public prosecutor, allowed the dismantling of a specialized itinerant organized criminal group (GCOI). in the thefts of EBS boxes, to the detriment of road transport companies.
During the summer of 2024, the Moselle department (57) is the scene of numerous thefts of EBS boxes committed on heavy goods vehicle trailers. These boxes are designed to optimize the braking distance and the stability of the vehicle when braking. The theft of these coins, worth between 1000 and 1500 euros when new, is growing throughout the national territory. In total, several dozen road transport companies were victims, and 42 EBS boxes were stolen for a loss exceeding 200,000 euros.
The procedure is always the same. The criminals deploy during nighttime raids, mainly on weekends, targeting heavy goods vehicle fleets where trailers are parked, and steal EBS boxes by drilling and cutting the hoses in order to extract them.
Three individuals arrested
At the end of August 2024, the gendarmes of the Toulouse-Saint-Michel Research Brigade (BR) informed their comrades from the Metz BR of the presence in the Metz metropolitan area of a traveling organized criminal group (GCOI) composed of specialized criminals in the theft of EBS boxes.
The meticulous investigations carried out by the investigators, under the aegis of the prosecution of the Metz Judicial Court, in particular the technical and telephone operations, supplemented by surveillance, make it possible to attribute seven acts to this team of criminals, committed in the department of Moselle, particularly in the municipalities of Carling, Gandrange, Hauconcourt, Morhange, Longeville-lès-Saint-Avold and Valmont.
The investigative work carried out by the gendarmes and their perfect territorial appropriation allows them to locate the residence of the criminals as well as the vehicles used by them. In order to put an end to the actions of this criminal group, a system was put in place by the gendarmerie, on the night of September 5 to 6, 2024, making it possible to arrest and place in police custody three individuals likely to belong to this group, returning from a new journey in the neighboring department of Meurthe-et-Moselle.
At the end of the hearings, the three individuals, adults and of Georgian nationality, were referred to the Metz public prosecutor’s office, brought before the Criminal Court as part of a deferred appearance, and placed in pre-trial detention pending of their judgment, on October 21, 2024, to respond to these facts.
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