Bands of South American criminals carried out robberies of tourists who met at the Paris 2024 Olympic GamesFrench authorities warned in a confidential report.
According to a source close to the case, the document devoted to his actions highlights the significant proportion of arrests of citizens from Chile, Ecuador, Peru and Colombia compared to the total during the Olympic Games.
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These expert pickpockets, organised into gangs of three to five individuals made up of men and women aged between 30 and 50, mainly targeted foreign tourists on public transport and in hotels.
The report details that their modus operandi describes these “associations” as “highly mobile and linked to international criminal organisations” and specialised in “crime of appropriation”, according to this source.
Authorities suspect that some of them are linked to Chilean gangs associated with the criminal organization “Lanzas Internacionales.”
Their radius of action extends across Europe, the Middle East and Canada, the source said, describing them as “crime tourists.”
Members of these organisations, who consider robbery to be a “genuine profession”, spread a “culture of robbery abroad” among themselves and often have residence permits in Spain, a country they use as a gateway and rear base.
Because of their itinerant nature, they are closely monitored by the international police organisations Europol and Interpol. France also anticipated their presence during the Olympic Games by contacting their countries of origin, according to the source close to the case.
Thefts and false accreditations
During the Olympics, around ten thefts could be attributed to South American gangs, for example that of a camera valued at 15,000 euros (about 330,000 Mexican pesos) that was used to broadcast the diving events at the Olympic Aquatics Centre in Saint-Denis, north of Paris.
The investigation into this gang led to the arrest of three men and a woman of Colombian nationality, two of them residents of Brazil, at the beginning of August in a house in the Seine Saint-Denis department rented through the Airbnb platform.
Investigators discovered laptops, jewellery, luxury watches, digital devices and even clothing bearing the slogan “Paris 2024” used by the criminals, as well as the stolen accreditation of a US athlete.
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In mid-August, the courts sentenced them to two years in prison and banned them from travelling to France for 10 years after their sentence was served.
Other South American gangs had false accreditations and wristbands to gain access to the venues and the Olympic Village, as well as false documentation (press cards, identity documents, etc.), according to the document. According to investigators, some of these passes were intended for resale.
Some of these organisations operated on public transport and in the entrances and surroundings of hotels, targeting foreign tourists. Authorities arrested Ecuadorians, Chileans, Argentines and Cubans in different cases.
Some of the Colombians convicted in August were also present at the Champions League final in May 2022 at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, sadly remembered for police action and robberies of tourists.
EAM
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2024-09-06 16:43:34