They live in opulent houses, have luxury tastes, and finance their lifestyle by multiplying burglaries. The family gang that has just been arrested by the Territorial Security of 92 is suspected of having committed 25 break-ins, of which only four have failed in some six months, in Hauts-de-Seine, Essonne, Val-d’ Oise, Val-de-Marne and in the provinces, from Lyon to Angers, from Rennes to Soissons, in Maine-et-Loire, in Saône-et-Loire… The loot is still difficult to estimate but will amount to dozens or even hundreds of thousands of euros.
For investigators, the case starts after the burglary of a pavilion in Bourg-la-Reine, on December 22. A neighbor of the victim, stripped of her high-end jewelry and €3,500 in cash, saw three women leaving the accommodation visited. Eight days later, in Vitry-sur-Seine (Val-de-Marne), a witness noticed three women ringing his neighbor’s doorbell. The door remaining closed, they force the lock with a screwdriver, then come out and rush into a Seat Toledo. It is this vehicle that will put the investigators on the trail of the suspects.
By looking for its owner and monitoring the movements of the Seat for months, they identify the suspects, all members of the same family of Roma from Serbia and settled in Seine-Saint-Denis, in particular in Blanc-Mesnil, in Livry -Gargan and Drancy. At the end of March, the testimony of a victim turns out to be crucial. He was at home in Antony when three women rang his doorbell. The man did not open, but looked through the peephole. And when they forced the lock, he kicked the door so badly that they ran off. He will recognize the burglars on photos.
The long investigations of the Sûreté, and in particular telephone tapping, brought to light the singular functioning of the family organized like a network directed by the parental couple. The father and the two sons take care of the logistics: reservation of hotel rooms during “business trips” in the provinces, contacts with lawyers in the event of an inspection… The women, daughters of the couple or companions of the sons, commit the flights. For those who have not yet found a husband, the mother is responsible for choosing him and negotiates with her future son-in-law the price of the dowry, assessed according to the skill of the thief. The value of the most skillful reaches 40,000 to 50,000 €.
Given the wealth amassed in the family homes, the small business was very lucrative. The parents are said to be building a 300 m2 house in Seine-Saint-Denis, others lived in a villa with around twenty rooms, decorated with Vuitton curtains. Questioned for three days, the nine suspects, including six women, were not very talkative. But all were indicted Thursday evening for “organized gang theft”. Six of them were remanded in custody.
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