16 Suspects Detained in Kim Kardashian Armed Robbery
UPDATE: Investigators in the Kim Kardashian jewelry robbery case revealed that her driver was among those arrested Monday, prompting speculation that the robbery was an inside job, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
French police announced Monday that they have detained 16 people in connection to the Paris armed robbery of Kim Kardashian in October.
Police orchestrated the dragnet that resulted in the arrests Monday morning in various locations throughout Paris, with the suspects’ ages ranging from 23 to 72, the Associated Press reports. An estimated $10 million worth of jewelry was taken in the robbery.
The suspects face charges of “robbery with organized gun, confinement and association of perpetrators” related to the Kardashian robbery, Europe 1 reports. Police now have 96 hours to formally charge the suspects or let them go.
“These arrests are a nice surprise because we might be able to find the jewels,” Jean Veil, Kardashian’s lawyer in Paris, told L’Express, adding that the arrests were “a great satisfaction” to his client.
According to Europe 1, the investigation revolved around a “DNA fingerprint” of one of the suspects that was left at the crime scene. That fingerprint allowed investigators to identify one suspect, and after placing surveillance on that person, police were able to piece together the rest of the crew.
“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.,” police union spokesperson Luc Poignant told the New York Times Monday of the investigation. “It didn’t take a lot of time. It took three months, and three months in this kind of investigation is quite short.”
While the hotel that Kardashian was staying at didn’t have security camera footage of the incident, neighboring buildings had active cameras that aided the investigation.
One of the suspects, upon taking a small bag of jewelry from the robbers, drove away on a motorbike and fell down, dropping the jewelry. That suspect accidentally left behind one of Kardashian’s pendants, which was later found by a passer-by.
An anonymous police source told the AP that many of those arrested Monday were already known to police due to previous robbery charges.
Paris police and prosecutor’s office previously said five people directly took part in the robbery, including two who forced their way into the apartment. Kardashian was tied up, held at gunpoint and locked in a bathroom during the robbery.
In a recent promo for Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Kim recalled of the robbery to her sisters, “‘They’re going to shoot me in the back. There’s no way out.’ It makes me so upset to think about it.”