Three young men suspected of having committed car thefts using an automatic pistol, in France and Switzerland, have been incarcerated, the Montbéliard prosecutor (Doubs) announced on Friday.
Arrested on Monday in Audincourt (Doubs), around twenty kilometers from the Swiss border, they were notably indicted on Friday for “fraud” and “extortion with weapons by an organized gang” and placed in pre-trial detention, said prosecutor Paul -Édouard Lallois.
Aged 18, 19 and 27, they are suspected of having committed half a dozen car jackings between November 21 and December 2, including two in Switzerland, in the district of Porrentruy, and the others in France, in the Doubs, the Territoire de Belfort, the Haut-Rhin, the Rhône and even the Drôme.
Their modus operandi was identical each time: two hooded men attacked a single driver to demand their keys at gunpoint. Victims who refused were violently beaten with rifle butts. The two attackers then left with the stolen car, followed by a third henchman parked nearby.
Victims' personal belongings were stolen, bank cards used for withdrawals and stolen vehicles quickly fitted with new license plates to escape the police.
But investigators from the Montbéliard police station quickly found traces of stolen cars in their area by relying on the geolocation of phones, vehicles and video surveillance networks.
“We interrupted a series of events which were taking a worrying turn, with one car jacking per day until their arrest,” underlined the prosecutor, welcoming “the excellent cooperation with the police and Swiss justice” to make the connection between acts committed on each side of the border.
The police found “a stocked automatic pistol, ready for use”, as well as all the stolen vehicles, city cars or more powerful vehicles such as Audi or BMW.
The oldest suspect is from Audincourt, but now lives in Marseille. The other two live in Marseille and Montélimar (Drôme). They have all already been convicted of theft, carrying weapons, violence or drug trafficking.
The Montbéliard commissioner, Paul Mangin, noted the “extreme violence” and the “total casualness” of the suspects who “injured” an agent and “spit” on another during their custody.
