The two masked men filmed by a surveillance camera stealing from a Paris shop may not be ordinary thieves but off-duty police officers, officials said Tuesday.
An official at the French Interior Ministry said that two Paris police officers have been suspended and preliminary charges filed against them over the theft from a telephone equipment store Friday. The official was not authorized to be named because the investigation is ongoing.
A surveillance camera filmed two men, with a police armband and a handgun, rummaging in the cash register, apparently stealing money and phone cards. The video was run on the Web site of French radio station Europe 1.
The store owner, with help from bystanders, chased the two down and caught them after they left the store.
The internal watchdog agency for the French police was asked to investigate, and the two officers were detained Saturday, a judicial official said.
The two were questioned and later released under judicial supervision, the official said. They were barred from carrying arms or contacting each other while the investigation is under way.
Preliminary charges under French law mean an investigating judge has strong reason to suspect involvement in a crime and gives the magistrate more time to continue the probe.
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