Return, Tuesday, before the Assize Court of Paris, for ten alleged robbers suspected of having participated, to varying degrees, in the thefts committed on December 11, 2015 at the famous jeweler Chopard in the Place Vendôme in Paris, then, the May 19, 2016, in the Chanel boutique on the very chic avenue Montaigne.
The trial, which initially opened on October 6, 2020, was brought to a halt after the Covid-19 contamination of one of the accused.
The ten men were indicted for theft in an organized gang with weapons, criminal conspiracy and concealment of theft in an organized gang. Their trial is due to last until January 21, 2022.
The first robbery dates back to 2015 against Chopard
The first robbery was carried out in the Chopard store near the Élysée a few weeks after the November 13 attacks and in a state of emergency. A malefactor, wearing a latex mask and armed, had come to the shop and had the windows opened by two employees, after having threatened them.
He had stolen watches and jewelry from a worth about one million euros, according to the prosecution. The man had left on foot before joining one of the three cars parked nearby by accomplices.
A second heist in 2016 at Chanel
At least seven armed men had participated in this second robbery in May 2016. They had burst into the Chanel Jewelery store of avenue Montaigne in Paris. They had taken about two million euros worth of jewelry and watches after violently overpowering three security guards and two saleswomen.
The criminals had smashed armored display cases with a sledgehammer before fleeing, by motorbike and by car.
The stolen watches and jewelry have never been recovered.
Two heists for the same team
According to investigators, these two robberies were “vpresumably“committed by the same people. These men, now aged 28 to 41, are, for some, childhood friends or have family ties.
Clues that lead to the accused
According to the prosecution, at least three of the accused are also involved in the theft, committed between January and May 2016, of five luxury 4×4 Range-Rovers. These vehicles were most often resold for 5,000 euros in cash.
A stockpile of weapons and footprints
The investigation also made it possible to discover in May 2016 a stockpile of weapons and explosives hidden in a car stored in the courtyard of an old lady’s home in Blanc-Mesnil (Seine-Saint-Denis). This woman had accepted “to be of service“in total ignorance of what was housed in the BMW vehicle.
Investigators from the Banditry Repression Brigade had notably found two kilos of explosives, two Kalashnikov-type automatic assault rifles, cartridges (hidden in Tupperware-type boxes) and a defensive grenade. The DNA fingerprints of two of the accused were found on these weapons.
Car spotted after Brink’s vehicle robbery
Some of the defendants are also suspected of being at the origin of the theft, in June 2016 in Noisy-le-Grand (Seine-Saint-Denis), of an unmarked vehicle of the Brink’s cash conveyor company.
This vehicle, discreetly followed before its flight by a white car with tinted windows, contained in particular a briefcase filled with 20,500 euros in small denominations.
The Brink’s vehicle was found abandoned and empty of all contents 400 meters from the site of the theft. Investigators found that the vehicle following the Brink’s car was similar to the one used to commit the theft of the Chopard jewelry store.
A too talkative robber
Above all, for this robbery of the Brink’s vehicle, the sound system for a vehicle of one of the theft suspects jewelry stores by the police had made it possible to learn that a criminal project was in advanced phase.
the suspect detailed through the menu the operating mode of the theft of the Brink’s car as it was to occur four days later.
Part of the contents of the briefcase were later found during the search of the homes of two of the accused.
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