Surge in Burglaries by Moroccan Minors Prompts Arrests in Northern France

In France, the South Oise is living to the rhythm of repeated burglaries. Two individuals were arrested last week in Chantilly for attempting to burgle a house on Avenue du Maréchal-Joffre. One of them presented himself as a Moroccan minor, according to Le Parisien.

In Orry-la-Ville, three young minors had been arrested just after stealing the cash register of a store in the middle of the night a few days earlier.

According to the authorities, burglary cases are multiplying. And they are committed by foreign and homeless minors, often from the Paris region. A total of about fifteen arrests for similar acts have taken place over the past four months in the south of the Oise, the same source said.

"It mainly happens in the municipalities of the Cantilien area, near the train stations," says Commander Nicolas Blot of the Chantilly Company. To reverse the trend, he says that increased surveillance in these areas is organized with the help of railway security agents. According to him, this measure deters isolated minors because "generally, when they see us, they get back on the train and turn around."

Confident that "they [isolated minors] are very organized," Henri Herry, the mayor (SE) of Orry-la-Ville, calls on his fellow citizens to be more vigilant during this period and not to hesitate to look "at what is happening with the neighbors" in their absence.