Footballer Paul Pogba has been living under police protection for two months in Italy, the country where he resides, learned franceinfo this Sunday evening from close sources, confirming information from the Parisian – Today in France. The midfielder of Juventus of Turin and the France team had been the victim for six months of “attempted extortion in an organized gang” and had been kidnapped by childhood friends and two hooded men last March.
>> Paul Pogba case: the evidence against the five men indicted
On Saturday, five men including Mathias Pogba, the footballer’s older brother, were indicted and remanded in custody for “extortion in an organized gang” and “participation in a criminal association with a view to preparing a crime” . Two relatives of Paul Pogba are of particular interest to investigators. These are the two men who were left alone with the footballer at the time of the kidnapping. Un alone of the two concerned is one of the indicted on Saturday, September 17. The other has not yet been arrested.
This evening of last March, the footballer is brought to an apartment in the Paris region. The evening begins with a group, then the player finds himself alone with two of his childhood friends. It is at this time that several hooded and armed men arrive in the apartment. According to Paul Pogba, it was one of his friends who opened the door to the robbers. The same, always, who also orders him to pay 13 million euros. Investigators suspect these two friends of being directly linked to these armed men and, more broadly, to a possible criminal group.
The eldest of the gang is a multi-recidivist criminal. At 37, he has several years in prison behind him: he was notably convicted of attempted homicide and involved in a terrorist case. Justice accuses him of having provided a taser to radicalized robbers, an operation supposed to then finance an attack project. The terrorist qualification was not held against him but he was, at the time, closely watched by the DGSI.
As part of the Pogba affair, he is suspected of being at the heart of the pressure exerted against the player. He was notably part of the trip to Turin, to the Juventus training center, to threaten the footballer. He is also suspected of having put pressure on the player’s mother in July. She says he was the most threatening of the group. In police custody, this man nevertheless claims to be himself a victim in this case. He says he was threatened and robbed, like Paul Pogba, the evening of the kidnapping. He also says he was seriously injured in the hand by armed men last August.
The second man currently lives in Dubai. According to information from franceinfo, he must come to France in the coming weeks to be heard by investigators. He is suspected of having received a transfer of 20,000 euros from Paul Pogba and of having forced the player to pay him 17,000 euros worth of Adidas clothing in a Parisian store at the end of March.
Above all, it is in an apartment rented in his name that the international says he was sequestered on the night of March 19 to 20.