Seventeen people have been arrested for suspected involvement in the France Fashion Week robbery of Kim Kardashian West.
Paris prosecutor’s office spokeswoman Agnès Thibault-Lecuivre told The New York Times that the arrests were made Monday morning in Paris and its surrounding region, as well as in Southern France.
She did not identify those detained and could not confirm if the people who carried out the actual robbery were among them. Most taken in were in their 40s, 50s or 60s — the oldest arrested was 72. French law allows for the suspects to be held for questioning for up to 96 hours before being released or charged.
Investigators used DNA evidence and surveillance footage to track down the assailants. That uncovered a wider criminal network, typical in these sorts of heists, police union rep Luc Poignant told the Manhattan newspaper.
“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.,” he explained.
“It didn’t take a lot of time,” Poignant said of the actual investigation. “It took three months, and three months in this kind of investigation is quite short.”
Kardashian West was tied up by armed robbers, locked in a bathroom and had over $10 million worth of jewelry stolen on the evening of October 2, 2016.
The robbers were reportedly dressed as police officers and wore ski masks, and put a gun to her temple. Five assailants stole a jewelry box containing valuables worth between $5.6 and $6.7 million, as well as a ring worth about $4.5 million. The assailants escaped on bicycles.
Kardashian West was in Paris staying at a private residence when the burglary took place.