“I love Dupont lighters, I collect Rolex watches,” said Lasred L. at the helm with unwavering aplomb. On September 13, the police discovered a real Ali Baba cave at his home. In his cellar, hundreds of jewelry and luxury brand items. He was sentenced this Friday by the Bobigny court to three years in prison.
This unemployed man, an inveterate turfist, was suspected of having stripped the owner of a small hotel in Montreuil of an impressive booty: a hundred rings set with precious stones, famous brand watches… The damage would amount to 2 M € and their weight at 6 kg.
Alongside the collector, Robert B., his accomplice, a delivery driver displays the same false naivety: “I have the impression that I have fallen into a bad soap opera”, takes offense to the latter, who was sentenced to six months of imprisonment.
The story starts on August 25. A hotelier in Montreuil receives a curious call. A man posing as a police officer from the Nanterre financial squad warns him that he is going to come and search his home with a dog. Smelling the scam, this 78-year-old woman alerts her son who arrives on the spot, collects the jewels and climbs in his 4 x 4. He does not know that the pseudo-policeman is already in front of the hotel. And did not miss anything in the operation to save the family treasure. He chases after the son who stops a little further and gets out of his vehicle, leaving the 6 kg of gold in the back seat.
When he returns, the jewelry is gone. The old lady cries “the theft of a lifetime”, but does not press charges. She is then contacted by the brigade for the repression of banditry (BRB), informed by an informant. The two suspects were arrested on September 13. During the search at Lasred L.’s, they discover the pot aux roses. The Dupont lighters loved by the hotelier’s husband, his signet ring, his son’s Rolex, an oriental set set with precious stones from this family of Algerian origin. But her belt set with gold Louis, her emerald necklace and most of the loot have evaporated.
Faced with the accusations, the two PMU friends roll their eyes in disbelief. “I never took the gold from these people. In Montreuil everyone knew they had them, ”defends Lasred L. under probation. In 2016, he had already passed himself off as a customs officer.
The latter has the answer to everything. Its presence in the wake of the 4 x 4? Lasred L. was returning from his therapeutic session at the Montreuil swimming pool. His next day’s visit to a gold-buying shop? He goes there from time to time to give gifts to his wife. He justifies his lifestyle by his gambling earnings. “I can win up to € 3,000 on certain days,” he says. His partner had bought a nice scooter at the end of August, paid in cash. His lawyer, Me Flissi-Gherabli pleads a “subliminal” file, indicating that the civil party could not produce a photo attesting that she was indeed the owner of these jewels.
The denials of the two defendants do not convince Me Ariana Bobétic, lawyer for the civil party: “They have real know-how. L. lives only on this and B. is the carrier of the jewels. I think that 6 kg of gold went by boat to Tunisia ”. Didier Allard, prosecutor, agrees: “It’s a famous team. They cleverly planned and organized this theft ”.
–
