A total of 17 suspects have been arrested on suspicion of their involvement in the October robbery of Kim Kardashian in Paris, during which she was bound, gagged, held at gunpoint, and robbed of at least $9 million worth of jewelry.
The arrests were made on Monday morning in Paris, the surrounding region, and in southern France, reports The New York Times. DNA evidence left at the crime scene as well as surveillance footage of the robbers led police to identify some of the suspects, said Agnès Thibault-Lecuivre, a spokeswoman for the Paris prosecutor's office.
Five men were thought to be present for the robbery, which took place in a private residence where Kardashian was staying for Paris Fashion Week, during the early hours of Oct. 3. The ensuing investigation has led police to discover a wider criminal network.
“It didn’t take a lot of time,” said Luc Poignant, a spokesman for a police union, of the investigation. “It took three months, and three months in this kind of investigation is quite short.”
Poignant implied that there were many different types of specialists involved in the theft, explaining, “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.”
The names of those arrested have not been disclosed, and it is unclear if the assailants who entered Kardashian's residence are among them. Ms. Thibault-Lecuivre said that some of the suspects are in their 40s, 50s, and 60s, and that the oldest person arrested is 72. The ages of the suspects suggest that they are part of an "experienced" group of criminals.
French police are able to hold the suspects for questioning for up to four days, whereupon they must be either charged or released.