Luxury Paris apartment block where Kim Kardashian was robbed at gunpoint ‘had only one security guard and not a single CCTV camera’
Former cop Charles Pellegrini blasted the star's security arrangements, saying he was 'amazed' by the lack of cameras and patrols
THE luxurious Paris apartment block where Kim Kardashian was robbed at gunpoint of £9m worth of jewels had only one security guard and not a single CCTV camera, it is claimed.
Charles Pellegrini, the former head of France’s anti-organised crime squad, highlighted the farcical arrangements as the enquiry into Kardashian’s ordeal grew ever more bizarre.
Blasting those responsible for looking after the reality TV star, Mr Pellegrini said: "I'm personally amazed at how her security was handled.
"If I'm the owner of a hotel and I get Kim Kardashian, I double, triple my security procedures, I put agents at each exit."
Mr Pellegrini said he would also have had "two or three cameras" and a "round-the-clock" motorised patrol outside the prestigious Hotel Pourtales, in the centre of Paris.
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It is not a proper hotel, but instead a portered building containing nine flats which are rented out for up to £8,000 a week.
Despite this, there were no cameras inside or out, and the only person who stood between Kardashian and the criminals was an unarmed night porter.
He was tied and gagged, and left in the stairwell of the building during the ordeal, which Mr Pellegrini described as a "home jacking" - French slang for a robbery in a private residence.
Mr Pellegrin’s concerns were echoed by investigating sources, who are particularly baffled as to how robbers got through an armoured door locked from the inside.
It is claimed that the reality 35-year-old reality TV star pleaded for her life after the gang got in on Monday morning and held a gun against her head.
She was then tied up by two men wearing police armbands who took the valuables and then apparently disappeared without trace.
While detectives are satisfied that the robbers could have easily tricked their way into Kardashian’s apartment block, it is not clear how they got into her actual flat.
"This is the baffling part of the enquiry," said a source close to the investigation. "The door is armoured and easily locked from the inside.
"We are dealing with a young woman who was sleeping alone with a hugely valuable amount of jewellery.
"She would never open the door in the middle of the night in these circumstances, so who did?"
There are reports from the US that a stylist called Simone Harouche was also staying in the apartment, but she did not know anything about the attack until it was well under way.
This rules her out as the person who may have let the gang in, and there is no sign of forced entry of any doors in the building.
Ms Harouche, a close friend of Kardashian’s, apparently locked herself in one bathroom, while the robbers dumped and then tied up Kardashian in another.
Ms Harouche then texted the star’s bodyguard "because she couldn't dial 911", it was claimed.
The number for the emergency services in France is 112, and not 911, as it is in America.
Detectives admit that the high-profile crime is one of the strangest they have had to deal with in recent years.
They assumed that Ms Kardashian would have been surrounded by her own private security guards, and that she would never have kept such valuable jewellery with her while sleeping alone.
There is also concern that Ms Kardashian effectively fled France within a few hours of the robbery – heading back to the US on a private plane on Monday morning.
She gave a statement to police, but in normal circumstances the victim of such a serious crime would be expected to be interviewed at length by both police and prosecutors.
Police have also made much of the fact that the attackers focused on "possessions that had been seen and noticed via social media".
Four days ago, Ms Kardashian posted a close-up photograph of a huge diamond ring on her left hand captioned with three diamond emojis.
Some of the five-member gang were apparently so relaxed that they made their escapes on hire bicycles known as velibs following the 2.30am crime.
Just days before the attack, Ms Kardashian heaped praise on her German bodyguard, Pascal Duvier, after he protected her from a notorious celebrity prankster who tried to kiss her buttocks while she was entering a restaurant.
But Mr Duvier was apparently out at a nightclub with other Kardashian family members on the morning of the crime.
Numerous theories about the gang have been put forward, including that they are "Pink Panthers" – a notorious organised crime syndicate made up mainly of Eastern European gangsters.
But the Panthers are known for escaping the scene of their crimes in high-end sports cars, rather than bicycles.
Jeanne d'Hauteserre, the mayor of the 8th arrondissement in which Ms Kardashian’s flat is situated, said it was more that a local gang was involved.
He said: "There have been a number of attacks in recent times, notably of watches, and then of people attacked in their own apartments."
Mr d'Hauteserre added: "Now that this is all a big news story, we hope that the famous gang or gangs will be dismantled and arrested."
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