Doubs: Two men arrested in the act of stealing cables

Two men were arrested in the early hours of Tuesday morning in Lavernay, about 20 kilometers from Besançon, as they were preparing to steal telecommunications cables belonging to Orange. A third person managed to escape the police by fleeing through the forest. The two suspects were equipped with gloves and wire cutters. The police discovered five piles of cut copper cables near their vehicle, representing a total length of approximately 300 meters.

Another robbery attributed to the suspects

The investigation has linked this attempted theft to another telephone cable theft committed earlier this summer in the Doubs region. That first attack disrupted telecommunications in the town of Bouclans. Orange has filed a complaint and estimates its losses at approximately €7,500 for both incidents. Investigators still need to identify the third person involved and determine if the group is implicated in other thefts.

Around ten flights since January

The Doubs region is experiencing a surge in copper and fiber optic cable thefts. Nearly a dozen similar incidents have been recorded by the gendarmerie since the beginning of the year. In June, an organized network suspected of stealing nearly 500 tons of cables belonging to Orange was dismantled. These thefts, committed in several French regions, had caused an estimated €2,7 million in damages since the beginning of 2025.