French Police Bust Crypto Kidnapping Ring: 12 Arrested, Including Minors

High-Stakes Abductions Target Crypto Elite

Holy smokes! The French police just dropped the hammer on a gang of 12 suspects, some of them just kids, linked to a string of wild crypto kidnappings rocking Paris. These guys are in cuffs now, and it's about time!

Local media spilled the beans that the takedown went down early on May 27, courtesy of the Brigade de Répression du Banditisme (BRB), France's badass anti-gang squad. These guys mean business!

The roundup was a total blitz, with coordinated raids hitting spots all over Île-de-France and Loire-Atlantique. Other police units jumped in to help, and bam, these suspects, including some young ones, were nabbed!

Cops think these two headline-grabbing kidnappings are connected. One was the father of a big-time crypto entrepreneur, and the other? The daughter of a crypto exchange CEO. Crazy, right?

Investigators are digging deep, suspecting a bigger criminal network pulling the strings. These creeps allegedly used social media to recruit their goons for these high-stakes abductions.

Let's rewind to May 1. The father of a loaded poker streamer and crypto investor was snatched right off the street by four masked dudes in a stolen van decked out with a fake UPS logo. Talk about bold!

These kidnappers weren't messing around, demanding a hefty €5 to €7 million in crypto. To turn the screws, they chopped off the dad's finger and caught it all on camera to scare his son. But the police swooped in during a raid in Palaiseau, south of Paris, and saved the guy. Phew!

Then, on May 13, three more masked goons tried to grab a 34-year-old woman in broad daylight in Paris's 11th arrondissement. Turns out, she's Pierre Noizat's daughter, the CEO and co-founder of crypto exchange Paymium. She managed to escape, thanks to some quick-thinking bystanders and her partner, who got roughed up in the scuffle.

The attackers bailed in a van with fake Chronopost branding. Sneaky!

So far, six people have been charged and locked up for the first kidnapping. These guys are young and were handpicked for the job. As for the second case, no arrests happened until this latest sweep.

Word on the street is the French Interior Ministry is beefing up security for top crypto execs and their families. It's about time they did something!

France is turning into the wild west for crypto-targeted violence, with at least six incidents hitting the headlines this year alone. It all started with the January kidnapping of Ledger co-founder David Balland, who got tortured during a ransom demand for €10 million in crypto. This is getting out of hand, folks!