Europe's news in English

COPY LINK

CRIME

Thieves steal 250 bottles of wine… using the Paris catacombs

Resourceful thieves used the Paris catacombs to reach a wine cellar, before making off with more than €250,000's worth of top quality alcohol.

Published: 30 August 2017 09:28 CEST

Thieves steal 250 bottles of wine... using the Paris catacombs

File photo of the Paris Catacombs: AFP

The theft, which took place on Monday night, targeted the cellar of a private apartment in the luxurious 6th arrondissement, not far from the Luxembourg Gardens.

The thieves made off with a total of 300 bottles of wine, amounting to more than €250,000 in value, according to France TV Info. They were able to sneak into the catacombs and from there, broke into the private cellar.

Paris's catacombs are made up of around 250 kilometres (150 miles) of labyrinthine tunnels beneath the city's streets, with a small mile-long section open to tourists.

Officially, the network of tunnels is off limits to the public during nighttime and entry is forbidden without a guide, but that hasn't stopped groups sneaking in for secret meetings, parties, and even movie showings.

READ ALSO:

They are known as “cataphiles”, and Paris has a specialist police team that search the tunnels looking for illegal “cataphile” parties. Anyone found roaming the Catacombs without permission faces a fine.

The catacombs are also known as “The World's Largest Grave”, and are said to hold the remains of six million people.

France to set up national prosecutor's office for combatting organised crime

Speaking to French Sunday newspaper Tribune Dimanche, Eric Dupond-Moretti said he also intends to offer “repentant” drug traffickers a change of identify.

This new public prosecutor’s office – PNACO – “will strengthen our judicial arsenal to better fight against crime at the high end of the spectrum,” Dupond-Moretti explained.

Former head of the national anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office Jean-François Ricard, appointed a few days ago as special advisor to the minister, will be responsible for consultations to shape the reform, the details of which will be presented in October, Dupond-Moretti said.

Inspired by the pentiti (repent) law in force in Italy, which is used to fight mafia crime, Dupond-Moretti also announced that he would create a “genuine statute” that rewards repentance.

“Legislation [in France] already exists in this area, but it is far too restrictive and therefore not very effective,” Dupond-Moretti explained.

In future, a judge will be able to grant special status to a repentant criminal who has “collaborated with justice” and “made sincere, complete and decisive statements to dismantle criminal networks”.

The sentence incurred by the person concerned would be reduced and, for their protection, they would be offered, “an official and definitive change of civil status”, a “totally new” measure, the minister said.

The Minister of Justice is also proposing that, in future, special assize courts, composed solely of professional magistrates, be entrusted not only with organised drug trafficking, as is already the case today, but also with settling scores between traffickers.

This will avoid pressure and threats on the citizen jurors who have to judge these killings, he said.

Finally, the minister plans to create a crime of “organised criminal association” in the French penal code. This will be punishable by 20 years of imprisonment.

Currently, those who import “cocaine from Colombia” risk half that sentence for “criminal association”, he said.

Url copied to clipboard!