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French police arrest nine people for outrageous robbery of Saudi prince
Thieves attacked the prince's convoy in Paris and escaped with €250,000.
PUBLISHED : Monday, 18 May, 2015, 6:56pm
UPDATED : Monday, 18 May, 2015, 6:56pm
Agence France-Presse in Paris
French police have arrested nine people in connection with the robbery. Photo: EPA
French police arrested nine people on Monday in connection with a spectacular robbery on the convoy of a Saudi prince in Paris last year that netted the thieves €250,000.
The suspects were picked up in the Paris region and are now in custody, a police source said.
The attack on the prince’s convoy took place in August in northern Paris as the motorcade was making its way from a plush hotel on the Champs Elysees to an airport in Le Bourget.
A gang of “between five and eight” thieves in two BMWs hijacked the first of around 10 vehicles in the convoy, driving off with the three occupants before letting them go, police said.
The Saudis’ Mercedes and one of the thieves’ BMWs were later found abandoned and burned out in the village of Saint-Mesmes, to the northeast of Paris, approximately 40km from the scene of the crime.
Police found two ¤500, documents in Arabic, and medication near the burnt-out wrecks of the two cars. The thieves also made off with ”sensitive” diplomatic documents.
At the time, police described the attack as “unusual” and stressed that assailants were “obviously well-informed”. No one was hurt in the attack.
Airport sources said the prince was Abdul Aziz Bin Fahd, the multi-millionaire youngest son of King Fahd, who died in 2005.
The prince, who has something of a playboy reputation, was apparently already at Le Bourget when the convoy was attacked. Despite the raid, he took off for an unknown destination.
