PARIS - It was a classic burglary in a classy Paris suburb, except that the thieves who made off with jewels and valuables worth US$650,000 had robbed the ex-wife of President Nicolas Sarkozy, police said Thursday.
Cecilia Attias, the former Cecilia Sarkozy, was not home in the chic suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine when the robbers broke into her first-floor apartment this month, a police official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the matter publicly.
Cecilia's husband, Richard Attias, a prominent public relations agent, lodged a complaint with police. Neither of them was in France when the theft occurred.
The former French first lady left Sarkozy in May 2005 for Attias, but returned to Sarkozy's side in the run-up to France's presidential elections in the spring of 2007. Their divorce was announced in October of that year, ending an 11-year marriage.
