A major theft was solved in less than 100 hours in the Val-d'Oise region. During the night of January 4th to 5th, eleven Mercedes V-Class vans were stolen from a company located in Goussainville. The entire fleet, estimated at nearly €1,2 million, was recovered the very next day in Seine-et-Marne, leading to the swift arrest of seven suspects, who are now in police custody at the Melun judicial police station. The theft was discovered on Monday morning when an employee noticed a break-in at a bungalow used as an office and the complete absence of the vehicles parked on the premises. The company in question, a subcontractor for a foreign firm, kept several Mercedes V-Class vans on site, each with a value of approximately €000. A complaint was filed immediately, and an investigation was entrusted to specialized services. Initial findings indicate that the perpetrators primarily targeted the administrative bungalow to seize the vehicle keys. The vans were then reportedly moved using a truck, suggesting a planned and structured operation carried out by several individuals.
Vehicles located using GPS trackers
The investigation was entrusted to the territorial crime division, which quickly utilized the geolocation devices integrated into the vehicles. The GPS signals led investigators to the town of Pringy, in Seine-et-Marne, just a few hours after the theft was discovered. A surveillance operation was then set up around a parking lot located near an auto repair shop, where a garage quickly attracted the attention of the police. On Tuesday, two individuals They were apprehended as they entered the garage. Inside, law enforcement discovered all of the stolen vans. The site was immediately secured and sealed off to allow for the necessary technical investigations and searches. In the following hours, three more suspects were arrested near the storage location. Two further arrests were made overnight, bringing the total number of people implicated to seven.
The suspects, all residents of the Paris region, have been taken into custody.
Two of them are believed to be in France illegally. According to information released by investigators, all those arrested are already known to the police for a range of offenses, from theft to more serious crimes. The investigation is ongoing to determine each individual's precise role, identify any accomplices, and understand the intended final destination of these high-end vehicles. The speed with which the vehicles were located and apprehended highlights the effectiveness of tracking systems, which have become a key tool in the fight against organized vehicle theft.
