It could have been another burglary story but connectivity decided otherwise! Indeed, Velco’s premises were burgled in a near-perfect robbery, until the perpetrators were traced using one of our GPS trackers built into an electric scooter, which was also stolen.
There are more than 1,000 burglaries every day in France, of which about 25% are on commercial and industrial premises. During the night of 11-12 July, Velco, a company located in the centre of Nantes, suffered a burglary in its secure premises. In the premises, the burglars took computer, digital and technological equipment… The thieves are then interested in bicycles and scooters, stored in our company, which is working on integrating GPS trackers on these electric vehicles, on behalf of manufacturers and mobility operators.
During the robbery, an electric scooter was stolen by the criminals, who had no idea they were making a mistake. Indeed, the electric scooter of our partner Limotec was equipped with an integrated GPS tracker, which very quickly made it possible to geolocate the scooter in order to warn the police forces and thus lead them to move to the place that the tracker had brought up. Our trackers have an accuracy of 1 to 10 meters, which made it possible to identify the exact address where stolen equipment was stored. We were also able to observe the entire route from our premises to this address. A relief for our teams and for our partner Limotec, manufacturer of the scooter, who had lent us the vehicle so that the Velco teams could work on the integration of this tracker:
There will be no turning back now on connectivity.
Ken Lin – Limotec
The scooter was a valuable sample after this period of coronavirus where it is difficult to obtain all the desired components. We were upset to have lost it but very quickly relieved to have been able to find the scooter thanks to the geolocation integrated by Velco. We at Limotec have already been convinced for years by the connectivity and all that it can bring, especially on connected bikes and scooters. The idea is to continue to go further in the IoT to offer better services at better costs for end users. Connected mobility has a bright future ahead of it, and there will be no turning back on the advances made in recent years.
In addition to the accuracy of the tracker, which allowed investigators to give an exact address to find the stolen equipment, the law enforcement agencies were very attentive to the data collected in order to intervene quickly and effectively, based on this GPS position. This partnership proved to be very effective and made it possible to quickly recover the vehicle as well as to arrest some of the perpetrators and detectives involved. The stolen equipment had been transported to Le Mans during the night of the burglary, so it was the Le Mans brigade that intervened. The whole Velco team thanks the police officers who accompanied us on this unconventional case …
For burglars and thieves of all categories, it is no longer so easy to steal equipment and two-wheelers without being potentially followed. Surprise… The era of connectivity has arrived !