Garden equipment thieves reap what they sow: seven arrested in France and Romania

With the support of Europol, the French National Gendarmerie and the Criminal Investigation Directorate of the General Inspectorate of the Romanian Police have dismantled an organised crime group suspected of having committed at least 65 burglaries in several regions of France since February 2018. Dismantling the group began on 19 June on an action day carried out in the outskirts of Paris. Three suspects were arrested and 80 portable gardening tools were seized. During the second phase of the operation on 24 October, 60 police officers were deployed to Dolj County in southwest Romania. Another 4 suspects were arrested and 11 houses searches carried out.

This organised crime group under investigation was specialised in committing burglaries in outbuildings and gardening tool shops. Reactivity and strong exchange of information were the key success factors to overcoming the high mobility and flexibility of the criminals.

Involved from the very onset of the investigation in February 2018, Europol facilitated the exchange of information and provided analytical support before and during the action day. A mobile office was deployed on-the-spot to help with the cross checking of operational information against Europol’s databases.