The thieves from Benzema’s house were tracked down thanks to an airtag in a stolen backpack and a drop of blood

It’s been more than a year since thieves ransacked Karim Benzema’s house. On 23 January 2022, while Real Madrid were playing against Elche at the Santiago Bernabéu, the French footballer’s house was burgled. However, the robbers were caught in a somewhat bizarre manner.

It was supposed to be a robbery straight out of a movie, but in the end it was more of an investigation like a movie. On January 23, 2022, as Real Madrid took on Elche at the Santiago Bernabéu, two masked men on a motorbike raced through Madrid’s upscale San Sebastian de los Reyes neighborhood in the north of the city.

They arrived at Benzema’s villa, jumped the wall and smashed the glass door, which later backfired. After 50 minutes, the men on the motorbike left the neighbourhood with two backpacks full of stolen valuables.

As Benzema’s partner quantified, these were jewelry, sunglasses, which they had stuffed into backpacks of luxury brands. In total, the damage amounted to 200,000 euros.

It was supposed to be a clean robbery, the shrouded thieves had a car waiting for them at the end of the district and eleven hours later they were in France. Perhaps they would never be found again, but the plan was flawed.

Benzema’s partner left her “Airtag” in one of the bags. It’s Apple’s insurance policy against losing things. You clip one to your keys and throw the other in your backpack. The mobile app makes it easy to find where the backpack is if you lose it.

And the other thing the thieves didn’t count on is that when the glass door was smashed, a drop of blood was left on the glass door, making it easy for the police to find DNA.

When Benzema’s partner called the police, she immediately said there was an airtag in one of the backpacks. The app showed a signal at the border with France, specifically at a petrol station in Lérida. CCTV footage of the petrol station then showed three men in a car with French number plates, one of them carrying a Gucci backpack that belonged to the partner of the Ballon d’Or winner.

The police later deciphered their journey to Madrid as well, setting off from Marseille with the sole purpose of robbing Benzema. Five days before the match, they crossed the border into Spain, stopped for a few hours in Burgos and continued on to Madrid.

DNA from a drop of blood revealed a French 22-year-old who had previously been in trouble with the law for drugs and physical assault. “ They are dangerous, repeat offenders and a danger to society,” French police said.

The youth found by DNA was extradited by France to Spain, where he exercised his right to remain silent and has been in a makeshift prison since October, where he remains for fear of absconding.

The trial is pending when France extradites the other two participants in the robbery. The three rioters also had an accomplice who hired a car in his name, which they used to get to and from Madrid. However, this man was shot dead in a Marseille neighbourhood in May.

Source: ABC, MARCA