They were targeting high-end bikes. Three individuals of Moldovan origin were arrested Tuesday in the Paris region and placed in police custody, we learned from the Rennes public prosecutor’s office. Aged between 26 and 41, the three suspects, little or not known to the courts, are accused of having burglarized several cycle stores in recent months throughout France.
The investigation began in August 2022 after a theft of bicycles from a store in Plancoët (Côtes-d’Armor) for damage exceeding 37,000 euros. Quite quickly, investigators had targeted a gang specializing in this type of burglary. The three individuals are suspected of a total of eleven acts of theft committed in recent months in ten departments (Côtes-d’Armor, Ille-et-Vilaine, Manche, Sarthe, Saône-et-Loire, Jura, Landes, Haute-Vienne, Charente-Maritime and Hérault). The overall damage amounts to more than 300,000 euros.
Bikes sold on a site hosted in Russia
“The bikes were then, in part, offered for sale on a website hosted in Russia,” specifies Philippe Astruc, Rennes public prosecutor. During the searches, 37 bicycles, mainly coming from a burglary committed at the beginning of November in Hérault, were found.
At the end of their police custody, the three individuals were referred to the public prosecutor’s office and placed under judicial supervision. They will be judged on April 15 before the Rennes criminal court. They face up to ten years in prison.