The facts would have occurred around 4:30 a.m. in the night from Saturday to Sunday on a storage park of vehicles at the Stellantis factory in Sochaux (Doubs), according to the security teams who detected an intrusion.
In total, fifty-two vehicles were damaged by fire after an intrusion on the site, according to the management of the factory and the prosecution. “The intruder(s) set fire to a few dozen vehicles”, which are “more or less damaged”, she added. “We do not know their intention,” said the spokesperson, while stressing that the fire was intended “to create a diversion”.
Lonely man ?
Firefighters from the factory and the Departmental Fire and Rescue Service (Sdis) 25 intervened to extinguish the flames. A flagrancy investigation is underway, led by the Montbéliard police station, with the participation of forensic identification technicians (IJ).
According to the Montbéliard prosecutor’s office, forty-two vehicles, in three different areas, were “totally destroyed”, and “ten others were degraded”. The models concerned are new Peugeot 3008 and 5008, fresh from the factory.
The cars were stored in a large parking lot under solar panels which burned for several meters. These panels could have facilitated the spread of the flames, according to the first elements of the investigation. The same source indicates that five security guards were on the scene during the night and surprised an individual who would have acted alone before managing to flee. The security guards were interviewed on Sunday by the investigators who must also use the video surveillance recordings.