A harrowing video that is making rounds on social media shows the exact moment when knife-weilding masked men tried to kidnap the daughter of a cryptocurrency billionaire and her two-year-old son in Paris
The woman escaped the attackers by an inch and their attempt was foiled. However, the horrifying incident deepens worries about the crimes that are blowing out of proportion in the French capital.
The latest attack is at least the third violent attack targeting wealthy crypto players and their families in recent months.
The video shows the moment the masked men violently tried to put the woman into their van, grabbing her by her arms and hair in broad daylight. The woman, 34, holds her child as she fights the men and screams for help.
The men try to put her into a Chronopost delivery van as she struggles. However, a heroic passerby foils the attack by charging at them with a fire extinguisher, hurling it at the attackers as they run off.
The woman is also saved by her partner, who shields her and the child but suffers knife injuries inflicted on him by the attackers.
Details of the attack
The brazen kidnapping attempt took place on Tuesday morning on a busy Paris street.
The man who intervened with the fire extinguisher has been identified as the owner of a shop.
The kidnapping target was identified in local media reports as the 34-year-old daughter of the CEO of a platform for buying cryptocurrencies, who was with her partner at the time, as per a report by Reuters.
The Paris prosecutors’ office did not comment on the victims’ identity. The office said it had opened a probe into the attempted kidnapping that would be conducted by an organised crime unit of the Paris police. It also criticised the sharing of the video, saying it compounded the victims’ suffering.
The attack comes at a time when France is grappling with a rise in drug crime and a wave of prison attacks purportedly carried out by narcotics kingpins.
Kidnapping gangs are particularly targeting crypto wealth amid a series of similar incidents since the start of this year.
French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said on Wednesday he would meet with French crypto entrepreneurs to make them aware of the risks and to take measures to protect them.
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