Paris court sentences Romanian clan members to a total of 113 years in prison

Twenty members of a clan from Romania, men and women who exploited their children by sending them to steal at the Paris subway, were sentenced on Friday, in the French capital, to terms of 4 to 8 years in prison, according to a judicial source quoted by AFP, local Agerpres reported.

In total, the Paris Court sentenced them to 113 years in prison. They were also banned from entering the French territory.

The trial took three weeks and is the result of investigations initiated at the end of 2016 amid escalations of thefts in the Paris subway by groups of well organized teenagers: minors, between 11 and 18 years, stole phones and wallets from passengers, most often on the subway stairs. While one or more distracted the victims’ attention, another one stole the objects and passed them to accomplices.

These bands, which mainly targeted tourist metro stations, had particularly operated during the UN Climate Change Conference-21 at the end of 2015 and the 2016 European Football Championship.

The investigation led to the establishment, in January 2017, of a Franco-Romanian judicial cooperation. Six months later, this led to the simultaneous arrest, in France, Romania, Spain and Italy, of most of the suspects, parents of the exploited minors.

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