New Zealand Diplomat Is Victim of Armed Robbery, Paris Authorities Say

A diplomat from New Zealand’s Embassy in France was the victim of an armed robbery in Paris on Thursday, the city’s prosecutor’s office said the following day.

The diplomat was not named, and the Parisian authorities did not say whether they had identified a suspect in the case.

“The Paris prosecutor’s office has referred to the criminal police the charges of organized robbery with a weapon, arrest, kidnapping, false imprisonment or arbitrary detention,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

The statement did not describe the diplomat’s condition, saying only that the victim had been taken to a hospital for treatment. The robbery occurred in Paris’s 7th arrondissement, an affluent district that includes many of the city’s most famous sites, and the Parisian prosecutor’s office said that an investigation was ongoing.

The amount of damage to or theft of the victim’s belongings had not yet been assessed, the prosecutor’s office said.

Local news outlets reported that two assailants broke into the victim’s home on Thursday evening, where they tied up and hit the victim in the face with the butt of a pistol. The assailants reportedly fled in a vehicle with stolen license plates.

Nationwide, France experienced an increase in home invasions in 2023, recording 515 home invasions and attempted home invasions compared to 475 in 2022, according to the French Judicial Police.

The Embassy of New Zealand in Paris did not immediately provide comment.