Six Romanians have been indicted for thefts of engines and boat equipment spanning more than a year in several departments including Gironde, with damage estimated at 320,000 euros, we learned on Saturday from the police station.
Spotted in France at the end of September on their return from Romania where they had spent the summer, these six individuals, “particularly mobile” and who had adown to earth » near Langon (Gironde), were arrested early Wednesday morning a few hours after “an attempted robbery on a nautical business in Gironde”. They are suspected of stealing “Several dozens” motors and bases (motor foot) and “some high-value portable electrical equipment” for an amount estimated at more than 320,000 euros, explained to AFP Colonel Jean-Charles Bidaut, commander of the Bordeaux research section, which is investigating with the Langon-Toulenne brigade.
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According to the gendarmerie, the investigation started in September 2021 had made it possible to identify a “roving organized criminal group” made up of “three senior senior authors” and of “several accomplices” helping to make and store the stolen goods, which were transported by transporters to Romania, where the engines were resold.
The members of this group “moved a lot in Romania and across Europe, it is likely that we can attribute to them other thefts elsewhere (than in France)”underlined Colonel Bidaut, according to which the investigation required “a lot of monitoring work”. According to the gendarmerie, the six arrested acted mainly in Gironde but also in Landes, Loire-Atlantique and Lot. They recognized “largely” their involvement during their hearings.
Presented to an investigating judge of the Interregional Specialized Jurisdiction (Jirs) of Bordeaux, seized after the opening of a judicial investigation in April, they were indicted for “theft and concealment in an organized gang”. Two of them were imprisoned, the others placed under judicial control.
