Armed Robbery in Saint-Tropez, Brazilian Billionaire’s Family Held Hostage at Rented Villa

A Brazilian billionaire’s family endured hours of terror in Saint-Tropez after four armed individuals broke into the luxury villa where they were vacationing. The perpetrators threatened and tied up the people inside the residence.

The incident occurred at around 3:30 a.m. on July 16. The Brazilian businessman, whose wealth is estimated at approximately $1.4 billion, had rented the villa for a two-week period, where he was staying with his wife and two sons.

French media report that the residence may have been a pre-selected target. The four robbers, who had come from Marseille, approached the villa in a stolen car. They were equipped with a semi-automatic pistol, a hammer, cable ties, adhesive tape, pepper spray and signal-jamming devices.

Before entering the residence, they subdued the security guard by threatening him with a weapon. The guard was forced to put the dog in the vehicle, after which the robbers escorted him toward the villa and sprayed him with pepper spray.

Once inside, the perpetrators searched the villa’s premises. One of them put a gun to the head of the Australian partner of one of the family’s sons, demanding money. At the same time, two other robbers entered the room of the billionaire and his wife, demanding at gunpoint that they reveal where they kept their jewellery and expensive watches.

The people in the villa were then gathered in one room and tied up by the robbers. One of the residents managed to escape and alert the police. Amid the confusion, a young woman escaped the perpetrators, took a phone and hid in the residence’s garden.

Shortly before 5:00 a.m., she contacted the police. Officers arrived minutes later and arrested three suspects as they were attempting to leave the villa.

The fourth perpetrator hid on the roof of the residence, but was located and arrested later. He is a 29-year-old suspected of injuring a police officer during the arrest.

All four suspects have been formally placed under investigation for armed robbery and unlawful detention, and have been remanded in custody. Their statements have raised investigators’ suspicions that the robbery had been planned in advance and that the villa had not been selected at random.