Saudi minister robbed on M-way

A SAUDI Arabian government minister has been robbed of nearly €200,000 by fake policemen on the A1 autoroute as he left Le Bourget airport outside Paris.

The diplomat’s chauffeur-driven luxury car with diplomatic plates was forced to pull in by two “police” cars with rooflights flashing at around 22.00 last night.

Men wearing police armbands climbed out and pointed handguns at the man, the Saudi youth and sports minister, and ordered him to open up the car boot.

They grabbed a suitcase with notes totalling €162,000, $30,000 and £10,000 plus some other papers before escaping.

Police at Seine-Saint-Denis are investigating and say they think the robbers had been following the minister or had inside information on what he was carrying – although it was known that Middle-Eastern diplomats all roughly followed the same routine and headed in the same directions once they arrived in Paris: to Neuilly-sur-Seine or Avenue Foch.

It is the second robbery of a high-ranking political target in six weeks, after an adviser to former US president Bill Clinton was robbed at a bank machine in Paris.