Paris: A French judge charged the alleged mastermind of spectacular Paris heist in which five masked men robbed US reality TV television star Kim Kardashian of jewellery worth millions, prosecutors said.
Sixty-year-old Aomar A. was among six suspects charged over the October 3 robbery during which the celebrity was bound and gagged at gunpoint, then locked in a bathroom at the luxury residence where she was staying during Paris Fashion Week.
A total of 10 people have now been charged, including five accused of playing a direct role in robbing the 36-year-old Kardashian of jewellery worth some €9m ($9.5m).
Sources said the BRB special police unit in charge of armed robberies began watching Aomar A—who was sentenced to seven years in prison for armed robbery in 1985 — after finding his DNA at the scene on materials used to tie up Kardashian.
One of the alleged robbers was named as Didier D, aged 61 and nicknamed “Blue Eyes,” the prosecutors said. He was sentenced in 2003 to eight and half years in jail for international cocaine trafficking after being busted with two tonnes of the drug at a Paris airport.
The surveillance soon led police to other suspects, and the BRB launched a series of coordinated raids in Paris and in southern France during which they rounded up 17 people.
A Paris prosecutor praised the BRB’s “remarkable work”.
