Amazing salaries, luxury cars, clothes and accessories… Professional footballers have become real targets for thugs. Between 2020 and 2021, officially recorded burglaries targeting them increased by 61%.
In detail, 13 burglaries against professional footballers were formally recorded in 2020 and 21 in 2021, according to an internal note from the central management of the judicial police obtained by Le Figaro.
Figures which may still seem relatively low but which nevertheless reflect a very real increase and which worries the police. The trend also seems to be continuing this year since since the 1er January, seven burglaries of professional footballers have already been recorded.
Recently, the Lensois Gaël Kakuta or the Niçois Mario Lemina and Kasper Dolberg have been targeted. The burglars acted while they were playing a match or traveling with their national team. Regarding Mario Lemina, the thugs did not hesitate to rob members of his family, who were in the accommodation.
Vehicles, watches, jewelry, leather goods or cash are mainly coveted. Luxury items can be resold through fences, cars modified to be used for other misdeeds or sent to Eastern European countries.
Social networks to identify their targets
Offenders can sometimes act by chance, attracted by the appearance of the house without knowing that it is that of a footballer. But most often, these are specialized teams that come together for a shot, with individuals with specific abilities depending on the target, described to our colleagues the head of the Intelligence and Strategic Analysis Service on the organized crime (Sirasco).
They are most often from surrounding cities, love football and follow the players on social networks, which allows them to identify objects (watches, clothes) or cars that interest them. The communication of the players via their accounts also gives indications on their schedule, their absences.
The thugs then seek to locate the player’s accommodation. “There are even teams that collect information around fan clubs, player agents, delivery companies and security companies operating in the football ecosystem”, detail the police.
Almost a year ago, four people were arrested in the Paris region, suspected of having participated in burglaries against PSG players (Angel Di Maria, Julian Draxler or Marquinhos, whose father had been beaten and the kidnapped family). Investigations are multiplying for agents, faced with the resurgence of these very specific acts.