The State Police of Imperia and the French Police, at the end of an international operation lasting about a year and coordinated by the Prosecutors of the Republic of Imperia and Marseille, arrested in the Transalpine city, for numerous crimes committed in Italian territory, 6 French citizens of Maghreb origin, all living there.
Through investigative work carried out in synergy between the police of the two countries, all those arrested, belonging to criminal batteries based in Marseille (F), but operating in various European states (in particular Italy and Spain), have been identified as the authors of a hundred criminal episodes against over 35 victims of different nationalities, all committed in different provinces of northern Italy.
The same, in particular, with the same modus operandi and demonstrating very high ability, have stolen ATM cards against elderly people or tourists, often acting in pairs, while the victims made withdrawals of money at ATMs or petrol stations, by deftly removing the ATM from them, taking out their PIN and reusing stolen cards for fraudulent payments and / or withdrawals of money, for a total amount ascertained in the tens of thousands of euros.
On the basis of the elements collected in the investigation of the Italian-French Joint Investigation Team, a seventh person was also identified as seriously suspected of similar criminal episodes committed together with some of the arrested; the latter, however, had already been arrested recently by the Spanish police for crimes committed in that territory. The arrests were carried out last week in Marseille and after the period of "garde à vue" (a sort of "judicial police detention" which for these types of crimes lasts 24 hours, extendable by another 24). they were interrogated and many of them, in light of the substantial investigative material collected against them, admitted their criminal conduct.
At the end of the operations - with the participation of staff of the Imperia Mobile Squad and during which over 40 thousand euros were seized in cash, a "cloned" car and equipped with a registration card stolen in Sicily in 2014 as well as other cars deluxe - those arrested were transferred to pre-trial detention in the Marseille jail, pending trial in February by that large court.
The legislation of Legislative Decree no. 34 of 15 February 2016, implementing European legislation, made it possible, for the first time, at the request of the Italian authorities, to establish a Joint Investigation Team between Italy and France in the context of common crime, with a clear message for those who report: there are no more frontiers to fight crime, even when it is not a question of organized crime.