Three men, specializing in the theft of braking systems from heavy goods vehicle trailers, were arrested in Metz.
During the summer, numerous thefts of EBS boxes, modules allowing in particular to optimize the braking distance, were observed in Moselle.
A TF1 team went to one of the transport companies deprived of their work tools.
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Olivier Jeannot still can’t believe it. Three weeks ago, his transport company was the victim of a theft of EBS boxes. “It manages the entire operation of the vehicle: air distribution for the axles (trailer component, editor’s note), all electrical connections. Without it, it’s impossible to drive,” explains the fleet manager at Vigneron Transports. With each flight, a trailer is immobilized, not counting the price of the box. “It’s worth around 2000-2500 euros. Then, the repair costs are around 3000 euros”he continues, questioned in the report at the top of this article.
Damage of 200,000 euros in Moselle
During the night, six trailers were vandalized in a parking lot without cameras. The thieves will only have had time to hide their loot, without being able to recover it. “They threw everything on a path behind, and it was while patrolling to try to find traces that the gendarme and my colleague came across the boxes”reports Olivier. A discovery allowing the gendarmes of the Metz research brigade to arrest three men of Georgian nationality, on the night of September 5 and 6.
They had been monitoring them for several weeks, after other thefts of EBS boxes in Moselle. “There are around thirty facts, for a total loss of around 200,000 euros. We imagine, at this stage, that these EBS boxes were resold by a concealment sector which remains to be identified”indicates squadron leader Romain Genest, interviewed in the report above.
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A new difficulty to face for transport companies. “Theft of parts like that can be used for a lot of things that require electronic cards”explains Olivier. In the automotive sector, or even in IT, there is no shortage of markets for these electronic elements. The three suspected thieves were placed in pre-trial detention, awaiting their trial by the Metz criminal court on October 21.
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