Three people from Eastern Europe have been arrested for more than 300 thefts with break-in of equipment and tools targeting building craftsmen in Hauts-de-France since the spring, the regional gendarmerie announced on Friday.
"While the investigation continues and a judicial investigation is open, the three individuals", aged in their thirties and, according to a source close to the investigation, from a member country of the Union European, were placed under arrest warrant and imprisoned at the end of their custody, said the Hauts-de-France gendarmerie region in a press release.
Under surveillance as part of an investigation conducted by the research section of the Hauts-de-France gendarmerie region, and the Saint-Omer research brigade, they were arrested "on the night of August 3 to 4 in flagrante delicto ", while they began" a new raid in Hauts-de-France ".
The searches made it possible "to find stolen material as well as tools whose origin has yet to be defined".
The investigation was opened after, in June, the Pas-de-Calais gendarmerie group identified "a phenomenon of break-in to the detriment of building craftsmen".
The investigations made it possible "to quickly identify a structured criminal group originating from Eastern countries, having its rear base in Belgium" behind these burglaries, 313 recorded so far. Extending over the departments of Pas-de-Calais, in particular in Audomarois, Nord and Somme, they were "mainly on power tools".
"The excellent relations with the federal judicial police of Charleroi (Belgium) were decisive in this affair", noted the gendarmerie.
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