French police have arrested five people, including a veteran jewel thief, in connection with an armed heist in broad daylight at a high-end jewellery store in central Paris.
On 1 August 2023, the gang made off with between €10 to €15 million worth of jewellery and watches from a Paris outlet of luxury brand Piaget.
At the time, prosecutors said that three people were directly involved in the early afternoon heist that involved two men dressed in suits and a woman wearing a dress.
At least one of them was armed, but nobody was hurt during the heist.
The store is located on the Rue de la Paix in the heart of the French capital, situated near the prestigious Place Vendôme and home to several high-end jewellery stores.
Police arrested five suspects on Tuesday and Wednesday, among them 66-year-old Aissa Bendjaber, sentenced earlier this month to 12 years in prison for a 2016 robbery at another famous luxury goods house, Chopard.
On conditional release at the time of the verdict, he had failed to show up in court.
Bendjaber – nicknamed the "The Borsalino man" because he often wears a hat – is suspected of having participated in several heists totalling millions of euros worth of stolen goods.
Frequently targeted
The area around Place Vendôme in central Paris is frequently targeted in robberies.
Only last April, three people on motorbikes robbed the Bulgari store in the neighbourhood, making off with several million euros worth of jewellery.
Piaget, founded in Switzerland, makes high-end jewellery and luxury watches with price tags that can reach several tens of thousands of euros.
It is a subsidiary of the Richemont group, which also owns several other luxury goods companies including Cartier, Baume and Mercier, Chloe, and Van Cleef and Arpels.
