Serial home-jacking: Kamel Z., suspected mastermind of celebrity burglaries, exposed
A 26-year-old man, Kamel Z., is suspected of orchestrating several burglaries targeting celebrities in France. Six suspects have been placed under investigation.
Kamel Z., 26, suspected of orchestrating burglaries of Bruno Guillon, Ciryl Gane and Sylvie Tellier
According to ladepeche.fr, the same man is believed to be behind a series of home-jackings targeting French personalities: Kamel Z., 26 years old, from the 19th arrondissement of Paris, is presented by investigators as the mastermind of several operations carried out in recent months.
On 27 September, four armed criminals broke into the home of radio presenter Bruno Guillon, in the Yvelines, in the middle of the night. The haul taken is estimated at €150,000. A few weeks earlier, on 3 September, the home of MMA champion Ciryl Gane in Nogent-sur-Marne was targeted while he was fighting at the Accor Arena in Paris. The burglars left with a Rolex watch and jewellery valued at €100,000. On 25 October, the Parisian apartment of Sylvie Tellier, former head of the Miss France company, was searched by unknown persons in her absence.
An established operation, teams recruited among minors
The Anti-Banditry Brigade of the judicial police in Versailles conducted the investigation into the home-jacking of Bruno Guillon, leading to the arrest of six suspects. Among them are two minors aged 17 and Kamel Z. himself, according to information reported by BFMTV and taken up by ladepeche.fr.
Kamel Z. is suspected of recruiting perpetrators, sometimes minors, tasked with carrying out burglaries at wealthy targets. He himself is never believed to have directly intervened in the offences. All six arrested individuals have been placed under investigation for "theft with weapons in an organised gang", "unlawful confinement of less than 7 days" and "criminal association".
Decisive telephone surveillance
The connection between the different cases was established through tracking a vehicle whose movements matched the presence of a mobile phone router used during the burglaries. The usual driver of this car was identified as being Kamel Z. Further cross-checks allowed him to be linked to the Ciryl Gane and Sylvie Tellier cases.
The interception of his telephone communications provided investigators with additional evidence: he is heard explaining his methods of recruitment and organisation of new operations. A search of his home made it possible to seize signal jammers, microphone detectors, tracking devices, gloves and burglary tools, according to BFMTV.
One of the other suspects is also suspected of being involved in the burglary of the home of Julian Draxler, former Paris Saint-Germain player, carried out last August.
A profile already known to police services
Kamel Z. is not on his first judicial file. He was sentenced in 2021 to two and a half years in prison for a burglary committed whilst a repeat offender. He had furthermore been involved in a murder case following the death of an 18-year-old young man during a brawl between rival gangs, before being acquitted.
Home-jacking: a growing phenomenon that traumatises victims
Beyond the cases involving celebrities, ladepeche.fr recalls that home-jacking constitutes a wider phenomenon. Nearly four burglaries in ten occur in the presence of occupants. They are almost systematically accompanied by violence, sometimes by unlawful confinement, and leave victims traumatised for years. In 2025, 489 armed robberies at home were recorded.
Faced with such a situation, law enforcement recommends not intervening, handing over valuables without resistance, in order to avoid any escalation and to allow the criminals to leave the premises as quickly as possible.
Source: TF1 Info