Mbappé Targeted by Kidnapping Plot Orchestrated from Prison Cell

Kylian Mbappé was on a list of 26 wealthy individuals targeted by a criminal network dismantled by Paris’s Anti-Banditry Brigade (BRB). At its head: Clément L., an 18-year-old Franco-Swiss national who orchestrated his plans from his cell at Villepinte prison, where he was already held in provisional detention for rape, pimping and organized gang theft.

Operating under the pseudonym “Lester Z”, the young man used two clandestine mobile phones — five devices were seized in total by investigators — to communicate via Snapchat with accomplices at large. His targets were carefully chosen: wealthy merchants, jewelers, millionaire wholesalers, a rapper and the captain of the French national team. The objective was to organize kidnappings, violent burglaries and home invasions to extort large sums of money.

The crimes span the period from April 11 to August 19, from Neuilly-sur-Seine and Val-d’Oise to Côte-d’Or. On April 25, three fake delivery men attempted to assault a luxury watchmaker at his home in Neuilly-sur-Seine before fleeing and abandoning an empty box. On May 4, two armed men robbed the watchmaker’s Paris boutique, stealing 150,000 euros in jewelry.

It was the analysis of fingerprints found on the abandoned box that allowed the BRB to identify Clément L. and his accomplices. On August 19, he was arrested as he left Bobigny courthouse, where he was appearing for his pimping case, alongside a suspect suspected of providing vehicle logistics for the network.

Analysis of the seized phones revealed the precise list of 26 targeted individuals. While no direct action was taken against Mbappé, judicial authorities deemed the threat particularly serious. Charged on August 21 in Nanterre, Clément L. was immediately placed in solitary confinement. Before the investigating chamber on September 2, he attempted to minimize his responsibility: “I know the facts are serious,” he stated.