Paris Ritz Hotel Robbery: Jewels Back, Three of Five Suspects Jailed

Summary: The Paris Ritz Hotel robbery Jan. 10, 2018, in France, ends with all jewels back, three on-site arrests, one wrecked getaway car and two missing suspects.

view of back entrance of Paris Ritz after Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2018, jewelry theft; photo by Davy Park: Reuters Top @Reuters, via Twitter Jan. 11, 2018

The Paris Ritz Hotel robbery adds another jewel theft to the new year's first three high-profile crimes, after the diamond-adorned Russo-Baltique vodka bottle and the Al Thani brooch and earring set extractions.

The Paris Ritz Hotel bash-and-burgle Jan. 10, 2018, in France, brought some same-week closure, like the brief Cafe 33 break-in Jan. 2, 2018, in Copenhagen, Denmark. It compared to the contrastingly cautious carry-out from the Doge's Palace (Venezia Palazzo Ducale) Jan. 3, 2018, in Venice, Italy, in its completion during operating hours. It distinguished itself in its destructive path from a rear staff entrance to ground-floor display cases and jewelry stands with €4.5 million ($5.42 million) in jewels.

The Paris Ritz Hotel robbery ended before the week-end, like the Cafe 33 break-in and unlike the Doge's Palace carry-out, with recovery of the entire extraction.

Two customers furnished central Paris police patrols on the Place Vendôme with details of the gun-firing, hatchet-flourishing intruders in the Reza at the Ritz jewelry boutique.

Online sources give the black-clad, gash-and-grab hotel invaders with black gloves and ski masks arrivals around 6:30 p.m. local time (5:30 p.m. Coordinated Universal Time [UCT]). They have noisy perpetrators inside to hack-and-hustle through display cases and jewelry stands in the hotel art gallery between the Place Vendôme and Rue Cambon entrances. They indicate the capture of three, identified as from the Seine-Saint-Denis area 12.43 miles (20 kilometers) north of Paris and in their 20s, 30s or 40s.

Hemingway Bar patrons, jewels in the street and on scene and Reza at the Ritz customers joined three immobilized suspects as Paris Ritz Hotel robbery evidence.

Second District police kept in 24-7 shifts on the Place Vendôme knew of additional evidence in the wreckage of a Renault Mégane in the Seine-Saint-Denis area.

Eyewitnesses and police listed two suspected accomplices in one man leaving on a moped that left a passerby slightly injured and another in a Renault Mégane. Peter Allen and Darren Boyle mentioned, for Daily Mail online editions, the second suspected accomplice as maneuvering a Renault Mégane from Rue Cambon onto Rue Saint-Honoré. Online sources noted a lack of injuries despite eyewitness accounts of 10 rounds of ammunition fired from two handguns and reports of axes, hatchets and sledgehammers.

Local media obtained no information on observations by Niki Lazar, 21-year-old Hemingway Bar visitor from Chicago, Illinois, of a bartender "being tended to by a paramedic."

Security systems that, unlike the Doge's Palace postponed theft-detection alarms, prevailed upon nearby police and pulled doors shut pushed the Paris Ritz Hotel robbery toward resolution.

Reuters reporter Emmanuel Jarry quoted sources close to investigations, "I can confirm that all the stolen jewels were found in the bag recovered by police officers." Gérard Collomb, Interior Minister since May 17, 2017, revealed that "Their calm, their professionalism and their swift response is a credit to the (second arrondissement) Police." The Paris prosecutor's office said that the Paris Ritz Hotel robbery suggests investigations into armed robbery and criminal conspiracy by perpetrators suspected of organized crime associations.

Tampered alarms, triggered doors and trustworthy tips turned the Doge's Palace, Paris Ritz and Cafe 33 thefts into respectively 100, 20 and 50 percent successful takeouts.

police cars outside Paris Ritz after Wednesday, Jan. 10 jewelry theft at Reza at the Ritz jewelry boutique; photo by Thomas Samson/AFP (Agence France-Presse): Bloomberg @business, via Twitter Jan. 11, 2018

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

view of back entrance of Paris Ritz after Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2018, jewelry theft; photo by Davy Park: Reuters Top @Reuters, via Twitter Jan. 11, 2018, @ https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/951436061430992901

Police cars outside Paris Ritz after jewelry theft at Reza at the Ritz jewelry boutique; photo by Thomas Samson/AFP (Agence France-Presse): Bloomberg @business, via Twitter Jan 11, 2018, @ https://twitter.com/business/status/951338778005778432

For further information:

Allen, Peter; and Boyle, Danny. 10 January 2018. Updated 11 January 2018. "'We Feared It Was a Terror Attack': Witnesses Describe 'Total Panic' After Five Masked Robbers with Guns and Axes 'Open Fire' at Ritz Hotel in Paris Before Making Off with £4.2 Million in Jewellery." Daily Mail > News.
Available @ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5255877/Axe-wielding-robbers-storm-Ritz-Carlton-hotel-Paris.html?ITO=1490

Associated Press. 12 January 2018. "Paris Prosecutors to Probe 3 Ritz Jewel Heist Suspects." Access WDUN.
Available @ http://accesswdun.com/print/2018/1/625093

Bloomberg @business. 11 January 2018. "Thieves raid a jewelry boutique at Paris' famed Ritz Hotel." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/business/status/951338778005778432

Jarry, Emmanuel. 11 January 2018. "All Jewels from Paris Ritz Heist Recovered: Source." Reuters > World News.
Available @ https://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-crime/all-jewels-from-paris-ritz-heist-recovered-source-idUSKBN1F026F

Marriner, Derdriu. 5 January 2018. "Al Thani Collection Brooch and Earrings Stolen at Venice Exhibition." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/01/al-thani-collection-brooch-and-earrings.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 12 January 2018. "Stolen Diamond-Adorned Russo-Baltique Vodka Bottle Found Dented, Empty." Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/01/stolen-diamond-adorned-russo-baltique.html

McKirdy, Euan; Said-Moorhouse, Lauren; and Andrews, Frank. Updated 11 January 2018. "Thieves Steal Millions in Jewels from Paris' Ritz Hotel." CNN > Europe.
Available @ http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/10/europe/paris-hotel-jewels-robbery/index.html

Reuters Top @Reuters. 11 January 2018. "Armed robbers steal millions from Ritz Paris hotel." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/951436061430992901

Reuters World ‏@ReutersWorld. 12 January 2018. "Sinatra at the Paris Ritz: the surreal moment when gangsters struck." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/ReutersWorld/status/951874731283828736

"Vol à main armée au Ritz à Paris, Trois Personnes Interpellées." Le Figaro > Actualité > Flash Actu > Mis à jour le 11/01/2018 à 7:25 / Publié le 10/01/2018 à 19:43.
Available @ http://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-actu/2018/01/10/97001-20180110FILWWW00306-vol-a-main-arme-a-la-bijouterie-du-ritz-place-vendome.php