Four suspects were arrested last week and imprisoned. The police are on the trail of the sponsor. An attempted racketeering could be at the origin of these fires which occurred in July in Mauguio and Lattes (Hérault).
Four people were arrested by the Hérault gendarmes in the case of the fire at the shisha bar “La Capitale”, located in Mauguio (Hérault) and destroyed in July, while they were also involved in a attempted arson attack on another night establishment in Lattes a few days later.
According to our information, the gendarmes of the Montpellier research section (SR), supported by the Lunel research brigade, carried out the arrests on November 18: four suspects, three men and a young woman, all from the region of Marseille, involved to varying degrees, have now been in pre-trial detention since Friday November 22, after four days in police custody for “arson by an organized gang”.
Handgun, gas can
The affair began on the night of July 16, around 2 a.m., just after the closing of “the Capital”, when there were around ten people remaining in the establishment. Two individuals arrived, gloved and masked, one with a handgun, the second with a jerry can of gasoline, they yelled at them to get down on the ground before dousing the bar with gasoline and setting everything on fire.
But at the same time, the 18-year-old individual who was holding the weapon burst into flames, he fled with his accomplices in a Renault Clio previously stolen in Marseille and which they set on fire before leaving in a relay vehicle, another Clio. The injured man was found at La Timone in Marseille, seriously burned to the second and third degree. When questioned, he denied being present at the scene.
However, the four new suspects admitted their participation and the involvement of the burn victim. One accompanied him with the gasoline, the other two were responsible for bringing the car near Mauguio to bring them back to Bouches-du-Rhône.
Young adults already convicted
One of them is also suspected of having attempted to set fire to the Opium bar-restaurant in Lattes on July 23, again spraying the establishment at night with hydrocarbon. Surprised by the alarm, he did not have time to set the fire.
If the responsibility of the quartet is established, “the sponsor has not yet been identified” indicates a person close to the investigation. And the profile of the suspects, all very young adults, indicates that they are small hands, ready for anything, lured by money.
The burn victim had around twenty convictions, a second, Anis Y., had already been prosecuted for pimping and was released from prison in June and the third, Aness B., just 18 years old, was convicted of violent theft.
The last two are brother and sister: Valentin and Lucie L., originally from Var, the eldest has two current convictions, the young woman is only known for driving without a license and is 7 months pregnant . The four suspects, incarcerated, will be tried in January.
There remains the question of motive. And a sponsor capable of recruiting Marseillais. Some evoke questions of money laundering, linked to drug trafficking and a major figure of banditry, linked to the targeted establishments, or of territorial wars and rivalry.
“The Trail of Vengeance” is privileged indicates a person close to the case while the manager of “La Capitale” had already been threatened before the events.
