Wire reporting: (AFP, via The Local France)

French police searched luxury properties linked to the late businessman Mohamed Al Fayed in mid-October as part of a Paris inquiry into an alleged international network that trafficked women for him and his brother, prosecutors told AFP, and the BBC reported that the operation produced arrests^1,2.

The Paris prosecutor's office said the searches included the Ritz hotel, Villa Windsor in western Paris, and Castel Sainte-Therese in Saint-Tropez, a former Al Fayed property on the French Riviera^2,3.

The BBC, citing a confidential Metropolitan Police letter to survivors, said the searches took place on Oct. 13 and 14 and resulted in a number of arrests, the first it said had been made in connection with alleged abuse and trafficking by the former Harrods and Ritz owner¹.

Paris prosecutors, in a statement quoted by the BBC, said several suspects were taken into police custody, then released after interviews so that digital material seized in the searches could be analyzed, and that the inquiry continues under the Paris public prosecutor¹.

AFP accounts of the same briefing said individuals had been held for questioning and that authorities were examining computers, phones and other digital media^2,3,4.

A Metropolitan Police spokesperson told the BBC that Met officers traveled to France in October and were present during the operation¹.

Paris prosecutors opened the French investigation in 2025 into claims of aggravated human trafficking, procuring and rape, seeking alleged accomplices of Al Fayed and Salah Al Fayed^2,3.

Al Fayed died in 2023 at 94 without being charged in France despite multiple complaints, AFP reported; he had owned the Ritz, Harrods and Fulham Football Club^2,3.

France's anti-human trafficking unit has interviewed at least five complainants, according to AFP copy carried by The Local³.

Ritz management told AFP it does not tolerate harassment, abuse or inappropriate behavior and said it was ready to cooperate with judicial authorities^2,3.