Four suspects indicted in the Ploudalmézeau crypto homejacking case

One wallet for five hostages. On April 20, gendarmes discovered a family tied up in their house in Ploudalmézeau (Finistère). Around the table: grandparents, their daughter and her two children. The criminals targeted the cryptocurrencies held by the father. Five months later, the Rennes public prosecutor's office announced four indictments. The courts have also imprisoned two suspects. This is a rare step forward for a series of crypto-kidnappings which continues to lengthen in France.

Ploudalmézeau: an April night that turns into crypto home-jacking

That night of April 20, criminals broke into the family home and ransacked the house. They tie up the five occupants while they seize the father's wallet, active in cryptocurrencies.

It was a neighbor, intrigued by the commotion, who alerted the police before the attackers fled. However, the Rennes prosecutor does not specify the amount of loot taken that evening. Faced with the technicality of the case, the Brest public prosecutor's office relinquished responsibility in favor of the specialized interregional jurisdiction (JIRS) of Rennes. This opens a judicial investigation on June 17. Then, the Rennes research section resumes the investigation. The Finistère gendarmerie group and the Brest research brigade support him.

Four suspects, two detention regimes for the cryptocurrency affair

The gendarmes arrested the four suspects on September 7 and 8 in Bandol (Var), Paris and Sevran (Seine-Saint-Denis). Aged 18 to 37, all are French, originally from the Paris region. Furthermore, all of them already have a criminal record. Frédéric Teillet, Rennes public prosecutor, specifies that one of the four is a repeat offender. The courts had already convicted him of drug trafficking. However, the prosecution remains discreet about the method which made it possible to trace them back to them, five months after the events.

Among them, two are indicted for all the facts:

armed robbery in an organized gang,

kidnapping and sequestration,

criminal association with a view to preparing a crime and organized gang money laundering.

The courts place them in pre-trial detention. For their part, the other two received a more targeted indictment, for the criminal association alone, accompanied by judicial review. Judicial control prohibits them from any contact with the victims or others indicted. He also forbids them from setting foot in Finistère. In total, forty soldiers participated in the operation. They come from the Rennes research section, the Finistère group and intervention units mobilized in three departments. Finally, the investigation continues following a letter rogatory.