Clues to $700K Theft in Paris: Handprints on a Trapdoor

A Saudi princess who returned to the Paris apartment she'd left over the summer ended up in the hospital in shock after she found more than $700,000 worth of her jewelry, furs, and designer handbags had been stolen. The Guardian and RFI report that the unidentified 47-year-old royal, who hadn't been back to the apartment since mid-August, returned there on Thursday morning, only to discover that fancy furs, jewelry that included a Cartier watch worth $9,500, and 30 Hermes bags worth between $12,000 and $35,000 each had vanished.

A source close to the case says it didn't appear like entry to the apartment, said to be on or near Avenue George V near the Champs-Elysees, had been forced. "Handprints were found on a trapdoor on the ceiling of the corridor," investigators said, per Le Parisien, which notes that an extra set of keys to the apartment reportedly had disappeared. A possible suspect in the case is a man who'd been staying at the princess' apartment since she left. It's not clear if this is the same Saudi princess who had nearly $1 million in jewels stolen from her Paris hotel in 2018. (More theft stories.)