French police smash luxury car smuggling ring

NICE, France, Feb 23 (AFP) – Police in southern France have arrested 16 suspected members of a trafficking ring that smuggled luxury cars from the French Riviera towards the Balkans, police said on Wednesday.

Dozens of police investigators and officers from across the region took part in the operation early on Tuesday, police said in a statement.

The gang had operated in the Mediterranean city of Nice and across the Var and Alpes-Maritimes districts, trafficking stolen cars out through Italy and Greece towards the former Yugoslavia.

Three of the suspects were to appear on Thursday before an investigating magistrate in the southeastern town of Draguignan, while a fourth has been remanded in custody in connection with a previous case.

The 12 others have been released.

According to police, the suspects were connected to a Bulgarian criminal gang, of which eight members were arrested in Saint Tropez last May.

Thirteen suspected car-traffickers were arrested in Nice earlier this month. Nine have been charged with smuggling cars from the Riviera across North Africa and the Middle East.