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French Police Arrest Over A Dozen People In Connection With Kardashian Robbery
Kardashian and the stolen ring in September of 2016. (Photo by Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images)
Police in France have detained several individuals in connection with an October robbery targeting reality star Kim Kardashian West when she was in Paris.According to NPR, reports vary as to how many people were arrested, but the number appears to be at least 16, possibly 17. They were all arrested via a series of raids conducted on Monday in Paris, Rouen and Nice, and their ages range between 23 and 73, the BBC reports.
On October 3, 2016, five men allegedly broke into Kardashian West's Paris hotel suite, tied her up at gunpoint, and made off with $9 million worth of jewelry, plus cell phones and wallets, before fleeing the scene. The robbers were seen leaving via surveillance footage. Kardashian West was "badly shaken but physically unharmed," according to her reps.
Investigators used DNA evidence and the surveillance footage in their investigation. Police say that one of the DNA samples taken from the scene "matched an individual known to police for robbery and criminal offenses."
The suspects include those believed to have participated in the robbery, as well as those who may have sold stolen property. Agnes Thiebault-Lecuivre, a spokesperson for the prosecutor's office in Paris, said that many of the people they arrested are at least 40 years old, which may indicate they are an "experienced" group. Luc Poignant, a spokesman for a police union, told the New York Times that in criminal networks such as these, "You have the robbers, and then the one who is going to sell off the goods, the one who puts people in touch, the stone cutter, etc." He said the three months it took police to make an arrest is considerably short, considering the type of investigation.
Kardashian West is poised to talk about the traumatic experience when Keeping Up With the Kardashians returns for its thirteenth season in March. She is seen discussing the incident in a recently released teaser.
"They're going to shoot me in the back," she tearfully recalls.
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The arrests may put a damper on those who insinuated at the robbery was merely a hoax arranged for publicity reasons.
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