Armed burglary in Mougins: three suspects arrested by GIGN, weapons were fake
Three masked men ransacked a luxury villa in Mougins armed with what turned out to be fake weapons. Apprehended after two days of pursuit, they have been charged with aggravated theft.
Luxury villa ransacked in Mougins: GIGN ends two days of pursuit
Three masked and armed men burgled a substantial villa in Mougins, in the Alpes-Maritimes, in broad daylight, according to TF1 Info. Images from security cameras show the trio smashing a glass door with a rifle to enter the empty property.
In less than two minutes, the burglars emerge with their arms laden with luxury bags and leather goods, then flee in a stolen car in the direction of Cannet.
Alerted by the villa's alarm, police arrived too late. A large-scale identification and location operation was then launched. "A genuine manhunt begins first to identify the authors of the deed because of the possession of weapons, to prevent the facts being repeated, and then to locate them and be able to apprehend them all together with the stolen goods," a police officer said to TF1.
Two days later, the three suspects were apprehended and their weapons seized. The investigation then revealed that the rifle and two pistols brandished during the burglary were entirely fake — replicas impossible to distinguish from real weapons, even at very close range.
The question of their strategy remains: did the criminals know the villa would be empty, or were the fake weapons intended to intimidate potential occupants? The evidence gathered does not allow this to be determined with certainty.
The three men have been charged with aggravated theft. The charge carries a maximum sentence of three to seven years imprisonment.
Source: TF1 Info