Thieves ransacked the Paris home of a Saudi Arabian princess stealing goods worth over $700,000, Agence France Presse (AFP) reported last week.
Luxury items, including 30 Hermes bags, a Cartier watch, jewellery and furs were stolen from the Saudi royal’s flat near Avenue George V in the French capital sometime between late August and November.
The princess, whose name has not been reported, only discovered the theft when she returned to Paris from the south of France on Thursday, on her first trip to the capital since the summer.
The 47-year-old was admitted to the Georges-Pompidou European Hospital in a state of shock and has not yet spoken to police, according to a report published yesterday.
Prosecutors have already opened an investigation into the incident, which will be handled by the police’s ‘Brigade de Répression du Banditisme’, a special anti-gang unit focusing on armed robberies, art heists, serious scams and thefts, AFP reported.
Investigators, Le Parsien reported, have carried out enquiries in the local neighbourhood, viewed CCTV footage of the area and received forensic analysis from technicians who attended the scene.
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Two of the princess’ lawyers have already approached investigators, the French daily added.
The paper also said an early suspect in the case was a man who had been staying in the princess’ apartment since August.
Investigators suspect the man could have been involved in the heist because a spare set of keys to the flat had gone missing and there were no signs thieves had forced their way into the princess’ home.
The incident is the most recent in a spate of high-value thefts in the French capital.
In October 2019, a watch worth nearly $900,000 was stolen from the owner’s wrist outside a hotel in what was the 71st expensive watch theft in Paris that year.
The victim, local outlet Le Figaro reported, was a 30-year-old Japanese businessman who had stepped outside his hotel near the Arc de Triomphe for a cigarette.
The robber approached the Japanese man and requested a cigarette before grabbing his arm, pulling the watch off his wrist and running away.
Thieves in the city are known to target luxury shops and high-profile visitors, particularly those staying in the French capital’s rich 8th arrondissement, where the Saudi princess’ flat is located.
Luxury goods often sell for up to 50 per cent of their true value on the black market, according to a Forbes report.
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