French authorities on Tuesday arrested 15 immigrants said to be experts in a range of theft cases in two European countries.
According to Russian News Agency TASS, the criminals—13 men and two women—were involved in a series of theft cases on jewellery, cigarette smuggling and carnapping.
Five of the suspects were of Russian origin, while others were natives of Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and France.
TASS said that in coordination with Georgian authorities, a chain of police operations led to the arrest of the criminals in several regions of France on February 9 and 10.
Five cars, jewellery, a half-barrel and ammunition were seized during the searches.
Sergey Parinov, the spokesman for the Russian Embassy to France, was quoted as saying that the embassy was checking whether the involved Russian nationals were detained.
“A corresponding request was sent to the competent French authorities,” he said.
Crime in France was believed to be already out of control even amid the global pandemic, with a leader of the far-right warning late last year that France was a “security shipwreck” sinking into “barbarity.”
Meanwhile, President Emmanuel Macron’s ministers warned of France turning savage, vowing to get tough on crime and combat the separatism of radical Muslims.
Photo by Paul Macallan/Pixabay
