Eight on trial in Paris over €100m jewellery theft

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/03/paris-trial-jewellery-robbery-france-theft

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Eight men have gone on trial in Paris charged with one of the world’s biggest double jewel-heists, disguising themselves first as painters then as female shoppers in order to steal more than €100m (£75m) worth of luxury watches, necklaces and earrings in two daylight raids on a jewellery boutique off the Champs Elysées.

The first raid on the Harry Winston store on Avenue Montaigne happened in October 2007 when four armed men dressed as decorators entered the premises just before 10am. A security guard at the store is alleged to have helped them enter the building via a service entrance the previous evening and they spent the night there. Entering the shop as staff were opening up in the morning, they threatened, hit and tied up staff, and forced a manager to deactivate alarms and open safes. Less than half an hour later, they made off with 360 items of jewellery and 120 watches, with an estimated value of more than €32m.

A year later, the same store was hit again. Four men, two of whom were wearing wigs and dressed as women, calmly walked in through the main entrance, allegedly with the help of the same security guard. They pulled out handguns, rounded up staff and customers, and in less than 20 minutes stole 297 pieces of jewellery and 104 watches with an estimated value of more than €71m.

At the time, detectives described the daylight raid as “spectacular” and the “heist of the century”. The gang appeared to know their way round the boutique, addressing staff by their names. They escaped in a getaway car, and were believed to have had an accomplice waiting.

“Look at all the TV series of jewel heists, where you have people wearing masks, flak jackets. And here we have stockings and high heels,” defence lawyer Éric Dupond-Moretti told reporters.

Some of the stolen jewels, including 19 rings – one set with a 31-carat diamond said to be worth €6m alone – were later discovered by police hidden in a plastic box set in a concrete mould in a rainwater drain at a house of one of the suspects in Les Pavillons-sous-Bois in the northern Paris suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis.

That suspect, Douadi Yahiaoui, 50, known as Doudou, has already served 23 years in prison for robbery and drug convictions. He is suspected of being the ringleader and the mastermind of the raids. He denies the charges, saying he was only an intermediary.

Also in court is the security guard, who has recognised his role in the heist. His lawyer said his client was hoping for some “serenity” after the trial.