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CRIME

Warning over Paris street robbers who target expensive jewellery after €800k watch snatched

A man had a watch worth €800,000 ripped off his wrist in Paris in the latest of a series of attacks targeting people who wear expensive items on the street.

Published: 8 October 2019 17:11 CEST
Warning over Paris street robbers who target expensive jewellery after €800k watch snatched
A Richard Mille watch similar to the one that was stolen. Photo: AFP:

The theft of luxury watches in the fashionable districts of Paris is quite common. And it is a scourge which the Parisian police is taking very seriously – although  there aren’t many watches worth €800,000.

On Tuesday, the Paris Public Prosecutor's Office referred the matter to the BRB (Brigade de répression du banditisme) of the Parisian Judicial Police to conduct this investigation into the violent aggravated theft of a luxury watch. The robbery took place on Monday evening at 9:30pm on Avenue de Friedland, near the Champs-Elysées.

A 30-year-old Japanese businessman who was staying at the Napoleon Hotel, a 5-star Parisian establishment near the Arc de Triomphe, was smoking outside with another customer.

An individual, about 1.80m tall and wearing a parka, appeared, asked the Japanese customer for a cigarette. It was a ruse to check the brand of his watch. The thief then grabbed the man’s wrist and ripped off his watch.

He immediately fled to Haussmann Boulevard.

The victim, uninjured, filed a complaint. The Swiss watch, from the Richard Mille luxury brand, model “Tourbillon diamond twister” is valued at €800,000.

However, the thief demonstrated that he is not in fact a criminal mastermind as he managed to lose his mobile phone during the escape. The police are optimistic that it will be rich in DNA and information.

This year, in Paris and its suburbs, 71 people were assaulted for their luxury watches between January 1st and September 1st. On Thursday August 29th alone, four attacks were recorded. The victims were targeted by experts who were able to recognise the models at a glance.

 

Member comments

  1. It’s very upsetting to be robbed, especially with violence, it’s wrong and can’t be condoned, but I find it hard to sympathise with idiots that walk around displaying very expensive jewellery especially in a large city. Who on earth wants a three quarters of a million Euros watch? My Timex cost twenty eight Euros and keeps excellent time, so I guess if these people want this sort of ostentatious display then snobbery gets the better of common sense.

  2. Thank you! Only an IDIOT would a) buy a watch that expensive b) wear it and c) then arrange for the insurance money? Can we spell inside job?

  3. Anyone as shallow, stupid and show-off as to wear an €800k watch in public deserves to get ripped off.

    Wearing such a watch is a sign of (a) ACTUAL inner self-esteem lower than whale-you-know-what and (b) a “Let them Eat Cake” arrogance taller than the Tour D’Eiffel. Doesn’t this idiot remember what guillotines are for?

  4. No one should be robbed regardless of what they wear. If he can afford it, he should be able to buy it. There is no evidence that “let them eat cake ” was said by Marie Antoinette. So, people should go to the guillotine for having a fancy watch? Scary!

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CRIME

Teens charged in France over plot to attack Jewish targets: judicial source

French prosecutors have charged a 19-year-old man and a youth in the Paris region with planning a "terrorist" attack on Jewish targets, a judicial source told AFP on Friday.

Published: 22 June 2024 12:47 CEST
Teens charged in France over plot to attack Jewish targets: judicial source

While no details on the pair have been released, French anti-terrorist investigators have expressed increased concern over the young age of some suspects detained in recent months for planning militant attacks.

The 19-year-old has been charged with “terrorist conspiracy” to commit attacks and the “acquisition and possession of arms for a terrorist enterprise,” said the judicial source, speaking on condition of anonymity.

READ ALSO: Anti-Semitism fears stalk Jewish voters’ choice in France

The youth aged under 18 was detained on June 13, the source said.

The pair made contact on social media and were planning a “a violent action notably aiming at Jewish targets,” said the source without giving details on the plot.

Anti-terrorism investigators say a growing number of youths have been held in recent months for preparing attacks.

READ ALSO: French election breakdown: TV debates, polling latest and anti-Semitism

“This is a necessarily worrying phenomenon,” senior anti-terrorist prosecutor Olivier Christen said at an evidentiary hearing on Wednesday.

French politicians have also condemned a growing number of attacks on the country’s Jewish community, the biggest outside Israel and the United States.

Outrage has been expressed over the rape of a 12-year-old Jewish girl in a park in the Paris suburbs last Saturday. Two 13-year-old boys have been charged with rape and making anti-Semitic insults.

Several protest rallies have been held in Paris and other French cities over the case which comes as France prepares for a national election in which the far-right National Rally party is tipped to make major gains. 

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