Police hand preliminary charges to suspects in €4.5m Paris Ritz jewellery robbery probe

Three suspects in the jewellery robbery that took place on the ground floor of the Ritz Hotel in Paris have been handed preliminary charges.

A judicial official said on Saturday that the three were jailed and put under investigation for organised armed robbery with threats and voluntary violence with arms in a group, among other charges.

Two alleged accomplices escaped after the Wednesday-evening heist.

Authorities have said they recovered all the stolen merchandise, which had an estimated value of about €4.5m.

According to police accounts, the three entered a service door, smashed jewellery stands with axes and threw bags of items out a window to accomplices who fled in a car and on a scooter.

AP