Georgians charged for 90 burglaries in Paris region

Five Georgians suspected of committing 90 burglaries in the Paris region using acid to break locks have been charged, prosecutors said on Thursday.

Published: 17 August 2023 16:12 CEST

Georgians charged for 90 burglaries in Paris region

(Photo by FRED TANNEAU / AFP)

Four of the suspects were held in pre-trial detention from Wednesday and the fifth is being monitored by police, the prosecutors in Nanterre, northwest of the French capital, told AFP.

In a rare method for break-ins, the robberies were carried out by injecting a corrosive liquid to destroy the locks of apartment doors, prosecutors and a police source said.

An investigation was launched last year after a July 2022 surge in burglaries using the technique in the Ile-de-France region surrounding Paris.

They began in the early days of France’s summer holidays before tailing off in mid-September.

Europol data showed up similar cases in Austria in November 2022, followed by Belgium, Portugal and Germany.

Acid-enabled burglaries were again identified in France from early August, prompting a new organised crime investigation for theft and dealing in stolen goods.

Police were able to arrest six Georgian suspects at their safe houses and in a vehicle believed to have been used in the crimes, after setting up surveillance around the town of Saint-Cloud west of Paris following four break-ins.

Jewels, special chemical-resistant gloves, high-capacity syringes and gas masks were found in one search, the police source said.

They added that the suspects formed “established, professional teams” for their raids.

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The French Jewish community, the third largest in the world, has for months been on edge in the face of a growing number of attacks and desecrations of memorials.

“National police in Rouen neutralised early this morning an armed individual who clearly wanted to set fire to the city’s synagogue,” Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Police responded at 6.45 am to reports of “fire near the synagogue”, a police source said.

A source close to the case told AFP the man “was armed with a knife and an iron bar, he approached police, who fired. The individual died”.

“It is not only the Jewish community that is affected. It is the entire city of Rouen that is bruised and in shock,” Rouen Mayor Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol wrote on X.

He made clear there were no other victims other than the attacker.

Two separate investigations have been opened, one into the fire at the synagogue and another into the circumstances of the death of the individual killed by the police, Rouen prosecutors said.

Such an investigation by France’s police inspectorate general is automatic whenever an individual is killed by the police.

The man threatened a police officer with a knife and the latter used his service weapon, said the Rouen prosecutor.

The dead man was not immediately identified, a police source said.

Asked by AFP, the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office said that it is currently assessing whether it will take up the case.

France has the largest Jewish community of any country after Israel and the United States, as well as Europe’s largest Muslim community.

There have been tensions in France in the wake of the October 7th attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel, followed by the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip.

Red hand graffiti was painted onto France’s Holocaust Memorial earlier this week, prompted anger including from President Emmanuel Macron who condemned “odious anti-Semitism”.

“Attempting to burn a synagogue is an attempt to intimidate all Jews. Once again, there is an attempt to impose a climate of terror on the Jews of our country. Combating anti-Semitism means defending the Republic,” Yonathan Arfi, the president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF). wrote on X.

France was hit from 2015 by a spate of Islamist attacks that also hit Jewish targets. There have been isolated attacks in recent months and France’s security alert remains at its highest level.