Ten suspected robbers were to be tried in Paris from this Tuesday for having participated, to varying degrees, in the thefts committed on December 11, 2015 at the famous jeweler Chopard in Place Vendôme in Paris.
The defendants are also on trial for a second robbery which took place on May 19, 2016, in the Chanel store on the very chic avenue Montaigne. The trial, which initially opened on October 6, 2020, was postponed after the Covid-19 contamination of one of the accused.
However, faced with the new Covid-19 contamination of two of the defendants, the Paris Assize Court decided to postpone their trial to a later date. Apart from the two absent for Covid, two others did not appear at the hearing, they will be judged in their absence.
The first robbery took place in December 2015, a few weeks after the November 13 attacks and in a state of emergency, in a Chopard store located a stone’s throw from the Élysée Palace.
A malefactor, wearing a latex mask and showing off a handgun, came to the store and had the windows opened by two employees after threatening them. He had stolen watches and jewelry worth around a million euros, according to the prosecution. The man had left on foot before joining one of the three cars parked nearby by accomplices.
A very substantial booty
The second robbery took place in May 2016. At least seven armed men broke into the Chanel Joaillerie boutique on avenue Montaigne in Paris, scooping up around two million euros worth of jewelry and watches after violently overpowering three security guards and two saleswomen.
The criminals had smashed the armored windows with a sledgehammer before fleeing by motorbike and car. According to investigators, these two robberies were “probably” committed by the same team. The stolen watches and jewelry were never found.
Now aged between 28 and 41, the ten accused are, for some, childhood friends or have family ties. According to the prosecution, at least three of them 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.
Weapons hidden in a vehicle
The investigation also made it possible to discover in May 2016 a stock of weapons and explosives hidden in a car stored in the courtyard of the home of an old lady in Blanc-Mesnil (Seine-Saint-Denis). This woman had agreed to “be of service” in total ignorance of what was inside the BMW vehicle.
Investigators from the Banditry Repression Brigade (BRB) 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.
Another robbery from a money conveyor
Some of the accused are also suspected of being the cause of another theft, in June 2016 in Noisy-le-Grand (Seine-Saint-Denis). This time, it was an unmarked vehicle from the money transfer company Brink’s. 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 discovered that the vehicle following the Brink’s car was similar to the one used to commit the theft of the Chopard jewelry store. Part of the contents of the briefcase were later found during the search of the homes of two 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 scheduled until January 21.