29 February 2000. Thanks to DH.
Source: Image of hardcopy
Intelligence Newsletter, January 20, 2000
Just as people are learning how to lock their doors more effectively clandestine break-an-entry methods have become ever more sophisticated. On a professional level, such activity is the preserve of a tiny band of companies. France has the widest variety of locks in all Europe. As a result, the companies that operate on the French market need to develop skills that can go far beyond what your friendly neighborhood lock-picker can conjure up. The company Madelin SA based at Ponts de Ce near Angers is said to be in the vanguard in its highly peculiar trade in France. Intelligence Newsletter managed to secure a copy of its confidential sales catalogue. Considered as close to French intelligence agencies, the company has been headed by Pierre Madelin, a specialist in the field, since it was set up in 1987.
Much of the company's work consists of keeping itself fully abreast of new lock systems as they hit the market-place. As a result, its employees can pick the most recent "three star" lock in two to three minutes whereas the manufacturers claim their locks can withstand the efforts of professionals for a minimum of 15 minutes. Madelin also develops its own lock-picking products which are designed to allow for covert use, opening locks in record time and leaving no trace. At present it is putting the final touch to a kit that can manufacture keys on the spot, with equipment that can immediately fathom a lock's mechanis. In the past, such an operation required a copy of the key to be made in a workshop from a casting of the original lock and its mechanism.
Madelin separates its products into three main categories depending on whether you want to open a door, a safe or a vehicle. The gear to open a door comes in a Zeih-fix key kit costing Ffr2700 ($415) that contains tools to extract single-block cylinders, with a number of universal keys thrown in. But the company also offers a "vibrating electronic pistol" costing Ffr3000; the movements of its blade feels out and picks the pins inside a lock's barrel, even those of the diabolo-type, anti-burglar lock.
On top of this, of course, the company offers picks that correspond to different types of locks and can be used manually with a handle and a metal probe call a "trainer"; once inside it can turn the lock. As for safes, the company has a range of blow-torches but also a "combination exhauter" named ITL 1000. Madelin's catalogue describes it as follows: "A computer in a suitcase that works a motor which automatically and independently runs through each possible combination, without missing a single one. In the most stubborn cases, it will find the combination in under 30 hours."
As for cars, Madelin offers a kit containing equipment to dismantle the contact and switch on the engine. It also sells metal picks to open doors depending on the make of the car. And if you happen to need special instruction as a would-be lock-picker the firm will lay on a two day course for at the cost of Ffr2700.