Kim Kardashian Paris Robbery Update: 16 People Arrested

There has finally been a breakthrough in the three month old armed robbery of Kim Kardashian West. The BBC has reported that French police have now arrested 16 people in connection to the October robbery of $11 million dollars worth of jewelry. What have the police revealed so far?

The authorities have announced that “traces of DNA left at the scene of the robbery led to the arrests” at 6 a.m. local time, this morning. The coordinated arrests were in Paris as well as south of the city.

According to the Daily Mail, included in this mass arrest of 16 was a “major thug,” yet did not reveal this robber’s name, nor any of the names of the other 15. What has been revealed that a source revealed to them that this gang of robbers were a more senior group, all between the ages of 50 and 72, and many had long-time criminal histories.

“Coordinated raids took place at 6am today. The men were arrested at addresses in greater Paris and in the Gard department. The oldest suspect is 72, while others are in their 50s and 60s. All are well known to the police.”

Kim Kardashian West, along with her four sisters Khloe, Kourtney, Kendall and Kylie and mother, Kris, are the stars of the popular reality series Keeping Up With the Kardashians. The social media star was visiting France during the splendor of Paris Fashion Week.

Kardashian was staying at the Hotel de Pourtales, which is better known as “No Address.” This is a discreet, luxury residence where celebrities such as Leonardo DiCaprio stay. Exclusively located behind Paris’ iconic Madeleine church, Kardashian had previously stayed in the gorgeous abode with her husband rapper and fashion designer Kanye West nearly three years ago.

On the night of October 3, at 2:35 a.m., two of the robbers had dressed up as police men and came to the exclusive residence that Kardashian was staying at. They held her at gunpoint, tied her hands and gagged her and shoved her into the bathroom. The terrified reality star thought that they were going to “shoot me in the back.” The 36-year-old recently revealed her distress when she thinks about it.

“There’s no way out. It makes me so upset to think about it.”

The robbers escaped on bicycles, of all things, with jewelry in a box as well as in a bag. They dropped a $40,000 diamond necklace, but there has not been news of the robbers until today.

Although traveling along with her family on this trip, Kim was staying separately from The Peninsula Hotel where her momanger Kris and sisters Kourtney and Kendall were staying. Previous to the robbery, Kim, Kourtney and Kris were seen in the front row of the Balmain, Givenchy and Balenciaga shows.

Kim Kardashian Watches Her Mouth, Gives Lips A Major Ring https://t.co/BBXcp7F3kI pic.twitter.com/w7HFcPHRSn

— SOHH (@sohh) December 26, 2016

As Inquisitr had pointed out during this time, surprisingly, supermodel sister Kendall was not walking the runways as in previous years and like her other supermodel friends such as Gigi and Bella Hadid during the prestigious Paris Fashion Week. Instead, she was out dancing with her sister Kourtney while Kim had the horrific experience of being robbed at gunpoint. Due to the hubbub of the media and paparazzi surrounding the robbery, the focus was on Kim and her absent bodyguard Pascal Duvier, not Kendall’s strange absence from the runway. Duvier was guarding the two sisters instead of by Kim’s side, per Kim’s direction.

When news of the robbery was revealed, many celebrities stepped forward to support Kardashian. Supermodel Naomi Campbell recently revealed that she, too, experienced a similar terrifying robbery in Paris four years ago.

On the other hand, fashion designer and friend of Kardashian Karl Lagerfeld publicly scolded Kardashian for flaunting her wealth on social media. He was concerned that this robbery would hurt the image of Paris, a city that has suffered from several horrific terrorist attacks in the past year.

Apparently, Kardashian has paid heed to Lagerfeld’s words as she had refrained from social media until recently and instead of showing off her bling, she has been focusing on photos of her family instead.

Now, hopefully the whole ordeal will soon be over with. The video of the robbers is being sent to the American police that are working in conjunction with the French police. They will show it to Kim and have her make a positive identification so that the authorities can make a formal robbery charge.

“The hope is that she will be able to recognize the men, so as to make positive identifications.”

What do you think of the latest developments on the Kim Kardashian Paris robbery? Do you think Kim will feel a greater sense of relief now that the robbers have been caught?

[Featured Image by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images]