RTL today – Arrest in France: Luxembourg resident at the head of trafficking in stolen phones?
Several individuals, who did not steal Luxembourg papers, were arrested as part of an investigation into a telephone export network.
Five suspects – including the network organizer, who had residence documents in Luxembourg – were indicted in connection with the dismantling of a network for delivering stolen cell phones to Algeria, with the complicity of stewards and an Algerian official, the Rennes prosecutor’s office announced on Friday.
Several dozen cell phones, laptops,a Maserati vehicle registered in Luxembourg, were seized in particular when searches began in Ivry-sur-Seine (in Val-de-Marne).
WHAT DOES THE SURVEY SAY?
The survey started in the summer of 2020 after a series of jewelry and cell phone thefts in Rennes city center “commissions by wandering minors or young foreign adults”, according to a statement from the prosecution.
The investigations made it possible to update “a sector centered on the Val-de-Marne which recovered the phones stolen in particular in Rennes in order to forward them to Algeria with the complicity of stewards of an airline company and of an official” Algerian, said Rennes prosecutor Philippe Astruc.
A judicial investigation was opened in February 2021. According to the investigators, “at least 600 high-end mobile phones have been exported” between December 2020 and February 2021, “generating a profit of several tens of thousands of euros per month “, according to the same source. This network also collected stolen phones in Paris and Normandy.
UP TO 15 YEARS IN PRISON
Four suspects, originally from Algeria and unknown to the justice system, were indicted for “concealment by an organized gang of thefts committed by an organized gang”. Three were incarcerated, no the alleged network organizer, of Algerian nationality and beneficiary of a Luxembourg resident card.
A 42-year-old Franco-Algerian steward was also indicted for having provided “several transports of stolen phones between France and Algeria”, according to the prosecution. He was placed under judicial supervision.
Four other stewards of Air Algeria are the subject of arrest warrants. Suspects face 15 years in prison and a fine.
“Investigations are continuing on the basis of letters rogatory in France, and will be extended to Luxembourg and Algeria according to the mechanisms of judicial, study or European cooperation”, said Mr. Astruc.