Five young men were arrested during the night from Saturday to Sunday, while they were trying to burglarize the private mansion of journalist Anne-Sophie Lapix, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. These two minors and three adults, aged 17 to 25, were placed in police custody. A flagrant investigation was “opened into attempted theft by an organized gang with a weapon and criminal association”, indicates the Paris prosecutor’s office. The investigations were carried out by the Banditry Repression Brigade (BRB).
On Tuesday, the star presenter of France Télévisions raised the alarm, after surprising a man trying to force the front door of his mansion with a crowbar. The police then decided to increase their vigilance in this sector. It was around 3:15 a.m., during the night from Saturday to Sunday, that police officers from the Anti-Crime Night Brigade in the 16th arrondissement spotted a suspicious vehicle.
On board, five men dressed in black seem to be nervously looking for their way. The police begin a discreet tailing. The suspicious SUV moves through the streets of the 16th arrondissement, suddenly changing its pace and direction several times, as if to ensure that it is not being followed. Before parking near the home of Anne-Sophie Lapix.
Adhesive roll and handgun
Four suspects get out of the vehicle, their hands gloved and their faces hidden, some with balaclavas. Around 3:30 a.m., they would have climbed the gate of the mansion one by one. The police, who discreetly observed the scene, immediately requested reinforcements. On the porch, the suspected burglars then tried to force the front door. But while the door still does not seem to want to give way, the thugs suddenly crouch down, all at the same time, probably trying not to be spotted. The police, still observing, then spotted movement near the first floor of the mansion.
Surprised, the four men then fled, while one of the journalist’s sons, alerted by the suspicious noise, filmed them with their phone. They will be picked up aboard their car by the police and their reinforcements a little more than two kilometers away. As these men refused to cooperate, the police were forced to break three windows of the SUV and use a Taser to apprehend them. One of the suspected burglars was slightly injured in the forehead by shards of glass.
From the SUV, a handgun and various tools, including several screwdrivers, will be seized. One of the suspected burglars had an adhesive roll on him, which could be used to hinder several people. Contacted, Anne-Sophie Lapix did not wish to speak.