At least three of the arrested suspects are women.
French police have arrested 17 people over the armed robbery of Kim Kardashian West in Paris in October, in which she was held at gunpoint in her hotel room by masked intruders before being tied up and locked in a bathroom. More than $US10 million dollars worth of jewellery was stolen during the robbery.
Shortly after the attack, CCTV footage was obtained which possibly contained images of the perpetrators, and jewellery was found outside the hotel which may have contained critical DNA evidence. But police say DNA evidence found in the apartment was the real big break in the case, leading to the arrest.
“One of the DNA samples matched an individual known to police for robbery and criminal offences, who is considered a major thug,” said a source.
Agnès Thibault-Lecuivre, a spokeswoman for the Paris prosecutor’s office, confirmed the arrests took place around six a.m. in multiple locations around Paris. The suspects currently in question can be held by authorities for up to 96 hours before police must either charge them or let them go.
An official who identified himself to ABC News and wanted to remain anonymous due to legal conditions prohibiting him from speaking publicly during the investigation process, claimed many of the suspects were already well known to authorities for involvement in robbery and other crimes. Many of those arrested are in their 50s and 60s, and at least three were female. Paris police had previously said up to five people directly took part in the robbery.
One of the suspects is the chauffeur who was driving Kardashian-West around Paris in the days leading up to the robbery. Police are in the process of questioning him to determine if he had passed information on to the suspected robbery gang.
The reality star’s French lawyer, Jean Veil, told France 2 Television Kardashian-West is relieved the assailants have been arrested.
“She is very happy, very satisfied and to a certain extent reassured by the efficiency of the French police,” Veil said.
The 36 year-old broke her silence on the attack earlier this month in the new teaser for the family’s reality show, where she told two of her sisters she had feared the situation was hopeless at the time, and would not survive, saying she thought to herself, “They’re going to shoot me in the back. There’s no way out”.
Kardashian has only recently returned to social media after taking three months off to recover from the attack and deal with her husband, Kanye West’s mental health issues.
Video via youtube.com.
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