They had stolen more than 6,000 cartons of cigarettes, four traffickers arrested near Nantes

The loot is impressive: nearly 7,000 cartons of cigarettes, as well as three vehicles, stolen from several departments in western France. Four men suspected of being involved in a major tobacco trade were arrested last Thursday, announce the Nantes prosecutor’s office and the national gendarmerie. The four suspects, aged 24 to 52, were arrested at a farm in the town of Red, near Châteaubriant (Loire-Atlantique), in possession of several boxes containing a total of 6,000 cartridges. They were indicted on Monday for organized theft, organized destruction by dangerous means and participation in a criminal conspiracy to commit crimes.

The four men, based in the Nantes region, are said to have committed a “first raid” of six burglaries on the night of November 19 during which 850 cartridges were stolen from tobacco shops in Loire-Atlantique. A BMW vehicle stolen in Morbihan would have been used for their travels. A more spectacular “second raid” would have taken place on the night of November 21 to 22 in Finistère. Two vans were stolen there, as well as 6,000 cardboard cartridges located in a logistics warehouse in the town of Saint-Ervazec, near Quimper.

An increasingly attractive product

The three vehicles used on these two expeditions were finally found destroyed on November 22 in Ille-et-Vilaine and Nantes. The 850 cartridges stolen in Loire-Atlantique have not been discovered. “The investigations are continuing”, indicates Renaud Gaudeul, public prosecutor of Nantes.

The four suspects were well known to the courts. The youngest already had 29 entries on his criminal record, while another was convicted twice for armed robberies.

Their arrest was made possible by rapid investigative work followed by shadowing by the gendarmerie, in particular its central office for the fight against itinerant delinquency (OCLDI). Nearly 200 gendarmes and around fifty police officers were mobilized on the whole affair.

Given the rise in prices supervised by the State, tobacco has become “a very attractive area for criminals. It can generate a fairly significant gain on resale,” explains Marc de Tarlé, captain of the OLDI. “Tobacco theft represents 20% of the volume of thefts in Loire-Atlantique. This is a matter of concern”, confirms Renaud Gaudeul, who says he has implemented a strategy of actions “throughout the chain”.

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