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CRIME

Stung! 25,000 stolen bees tracked down in Brittany

A thief who stole 25,000 bees from a remote part of the Loire region has finally been stung by police, thanks to an anonymous tip-off. The stolen hives, worth €60,000, were found hundreds of kilometers away in Brittany.

Stung! 25,000 stolen bees tracked down in Brittany
Stung by police - 25,000 stolen bees turn up in Brittany. Photo: Shutterstock

Anyone willing to steal 61 hives or 25,000 bees must be wary about being stung and that was the case in France this week, thanks to a member of the public.

In March thieves pilfered the hives from an apiculturist based in a remote part of the Loire region.

Beekeeper Bernard Nicollet reported the hives, worth around €60,000, were stolen in the middle of the night from his land in Cergne between March 12th and 14th. A distraught Nicollet said the bees represented “a decade of his work”.

Nicollet and his wife Marie Christine, who have around 400 hives in total, believed the thieves were experts as they only targeted hives containing bees. Police also said they must have had substantial equipment to transport the hives.

For nearly two months the theft remained unsolved until they received an anonymous email from a member of the public this week.

And the identity of the thief left the couple shocked.

“Police called us to say they had found the hives near Rennes, at the home of an intern, who was with us in February,” said Marie-Christine Nicollet.

“We are thrilled. We will see them as soon as we get authorization from a judge,” she said.

The intern reportedly told police that he had bought the hives from the couple. 

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CRIME

One dead, several injured in Paris suburb shooting

One person was killed and six injured overnight in a gritty northern Paris suburb in a shooting likely linked to drug trafficking, prosecutors and the mayor said Saturday.

One dead, several injured in Paris suburb shooting

The attack in a parking lot near a cultural centre at Sevran, which lies between central Paris and the city’s main airport Charles de Gaulle, took place around 11:45 pm (2145 GMT) Friday, prosecutors said.

Upon arriving on the scene, police found four injured people strewn on the ground. One died soon after and the three others were taken to hospitals in a serious condition, a police source said.

Three more people injured by bullets were later taken to hospital, the source said, adding that two men had arrived in the parking lot in a car and one of them got out and opened fire.

The attackers then fled.

Sevran mayor Stephane Blanchet told AFP “it was clearly a settling of scores linked to drug trafficking.”

“There is a need to establish order and eradicate trafficking,” he said. “Those idiots fired live bullets and did not heed appeals for calm”.

Police have opened an investigation into intentional homicide by an organised gang, they said. No arrests had been by Saturday morning.

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