Two men aged 19 and 20 were arrested on Wednesday in Val-d’Oise, suspected of being the perpetrators of home-jacking at the influencer Just Riadh in Seine-et-Marne, AFP learned from a source on Thursday policewoman. During the night from Sunday to Monday, around 2 a.m., three people broke into the influencer’s home in Seine-et-Marne, where he was with his wife and his little brother, according to a police source.
A car rental at the origin of the arrest
The burglars threatened the couple with knives before fleeing, taking three phones, two luxury watches worth 20,000 euros and 1,000 euros in cash. Investigators found their trace using the town’s video surveillance network and a neighbor’s cameras, which filmed a car driving in the area at the time of the incident, a police source reported to AFP on Thursday.
The vehicle had been rented from an agency in Saint-Gratien (Val-d’Oise) for a period which ended at the end of the day on Wednesday, according to the same source. The investigators only had to monitor the agency and arrest two of the three suspects when they came to return the car. The two men were taken into custody for aggravated theft by an organized gang.
Celebrities increasingly targeted by homejacking
Just Riadh, real name Riadh Belaïche, is a 25-year-old influencer who made himself known on social networks by publishing humorous videos. He now has more than 13 million subscribers on social networks. His notoriety opened the doors of cinema to him, where in 2023 he notably played the role of the 2014 world champion of frozen desserts Yazid Ichemrahen in the film “Under the Stars”.
In recent months, home-jackings – violent burglaries with the victims present in the home – among celebrities have multiplied in the Paris region: the singer Vitaa, the presenter Nikos Aliagas, PSG players, the chef Jean-François Trap were particularly victims of this. From January to November 2023, the police headquarters recorded a total of 288 home-jackings in Paris and its immediate suburbs, or 49 fewer than over the same period in 2022. But celebrities seem to be increasingly targeted.