Kim Kardashian's 'high school BFF Simone Harouche TEXTED bodyguard from bathroom because 911 didn't work' as burglars bound and gagged star upstairs

  • The robbers bound Kardashian in bath tub, stole £3.5m engagement ring
  • Her stylist best friend Simone Harouche said to have hidden in bathroom 
  • Reports claim she texted bodyguard Pascal Duvier after hearing noises
  • Others claim she contacted him after hearing Kim scream from balcony
  • Police fear the robbery at Hotel de Pourtalès may have been an inside job

Kim Kardashian's best friend locked herself in the bathroom and texted the star's bodyguard from the bathroom 'because she couldn't dial 911' during the terrifying £8.5million robbery, it has been claimed.

Celebrity stylist Simone Harouche, 36, was asleep downstairs at the £25,000-night Hotel de Pourtalès complex where armed robbers bound and gagged the reality TV star and stole her £3.5m engagement ring.

Details Ms Harouche's quick-thinking during Monday's ordeal emerged as detectives in Paris investigate how the gunmen got inside her flat. 

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Kim Kardashian's (left) terrified 'high school BFF' Simone Harouche (right) is reported to have texted her bodyguard after hiding in the bathroom during the £9m robbery in Paris

Kim Kardashian's (left) terrified 'high school BFF' Simone Harouche (right) is reported to have texted her bodyguard after hiding in the bathroom during the £9m robbery in Paris

Stylist to the stars Harouche (right, with her husband Marc Bretter) texted bodyguard Pascal Duvier because she could not dial 911 from her phone, it has been reported

Stylist to the stars Harouche (right, with her husband Marc Bretter) texted bodyguard Pascal Duvier because she could not dial 911 from her phone, it has been reported

Some reports claim Harouche raised the alarm after hearing Kim break free from her bonds in the marble bathtub upstairs while others say she alerted Duvier after hearing the reality TV star scream from the balcony over Rue Tronchet

Some reports claim Harouche raised the alarm after hearing Kim break free from her bonds in the marble bathtub upstairs while others say she alerted Duvier after hearing the reality TV star scream from the balcony over Rue Tronchet

Conflicting reports exist over where Miss Harouche was as the robbers tied Kim's wrists with tags and put her in a marble bath tub.

Initial reports suggested the mother-of-two locked herself in the downstairs bathroom and texted bodyguard Pascal Duvier after 'hearing noises' upstairs.

However others claim she raised the alarm after hearing Kim screaming for help on the balcony over the upmarket Rue Tronchet.

A source told E! she texted Mr Duvier, who was escorting Kim's sister Kourtney and supermodel stepsister Kendall Jenner at the L'Arc nightclub two miles away, because 'she couldn't dial 911 from her phone'.

They added Kim wriggled free from her bonds after the robbers escaped with her 15-carat diamond engagement ring, two smartphones and €1,000 in cash.

The source claimed she ran down to California-born Harouche with duct tape still wrapped around her legs and told her to 'jump off the balcony' to get away.

There are reports mother-of-two Harouche (pictured) locked herself in the downstairs bathroom at the Hotel de Pourtalès and texted Duvier after 'hearing noises' upstairs

There are reports mother-of-two Harouche (pictured) locked herself in the downstairs bathroom at the Hotel de Pourtalès and texted Duvier after 'hearing noises' upstairs

Harouche's celebrity clients include pop star Christina Aguilera (pictured), who threw the stylist's bachelorette party, and socialite Nicole Richie
Harouche's celebrity clients include pop star Christina Aguilera, who threw the stylist's bachelorette party, and socialite Nicole Richie (pictured)

Harouche's celebrity clients include pop star Christina Aguilera (left), who threw the stylist's bachelorette party, and socialite Nicole Richie (right)

They added: 'She [Kim] thought they were for sure going to kill her. She begged for them to let her live and [said] she has babies at home.'

Sources close to the investigation in France suggest that police accept the five men could have tricked their way into the building.

But it remains unclear how they got into the apartment through an armoured door locked from the inside. 

They told MailOnline: 'She [Kardashian] would never open the door in the middle of the night in these circumstances, so who did?'

The star, 35, gave a statement to police before flying back to the US where she was reunited with superstar husband Kanye West.

Stylist Harouche immediately left Paris for Los Angeles, where she lives with her real estate husband Marc Bretter, son Dashiel, and their daughter, Azlan.  

Kim Kardashian was rushed onto a plane bound for New York on Monday morning after being robbed at gunpoint (pictured, Kardashian and her personal assistant on the runway in Paris)

Kim Kardashian was rushed onto a plane bound for New York on Monday morning after being robbed at gunpoint (pictured, Kardashian and her personal assistant on the runway in Paris)

Kim Kardashian was greeted by rapper husband Kanye West (right) as she touched down in New York after her terrifying ordeal in Paris

Kim Kardashian was greeted by rapper husband Kanye West (right) as she touched down in New York after her terrifying ordeal in Paris

She and Kim are thought to have known each other since childhood when they both attended Marymount High School, in Bel Air.

The reality TV star once posted a photo of the pair together on her Instagram, saying: 'Fun day working with my high school BFF.'

Ms Harouche, who graduated from the Parsons School of Design in New York, hosts a stellar list of celebrity clients including the Kardashians, Miley Cyrus, Jennifer Lopez, Nicole Richie and Christina Aguilera. 

She masterminded some of Cyrus's most controversial looks and is credited with being the brains behind Aguilera's 50s pin-up style for her 'Back to Basics' album and world tour.

In 2011, The Hollywood Reporter named Harouche in its list of the top 25 'most powerful stylists in Hollywood'.

French authorities suspect Kardashian's attackers tracked her expensive jewellery and possessions through her social media accounts.

They knew the star was alone because they were in contact with her security team, a source told celebrity website Page Six.

It is unclear whether Harouche, who has styled superstars including Miley Cyrus and Christina Aguilera for their world tours, arrived in Paris as part of Kardashian's entourage (pictured, Harouche, centre, with Nicole Richie, left)

It is unclear whether Harouche, who has styled superstars including Miley Cyrus and Christina Aguilera for their world tours, arrived in Paris as part of Kardashian's entourage (pictured, Harouche, centre, with Nicole Richie, left)

Harouche is credited as the brains behind Christina Aguilera's (pictured) 50s pin-up style as well as some of Miley Cyrus's most controversial looks
Harouche is credited as the brains behind Christina Aguilera's 50s pin-up style as well as some of Miley Cyrus's (pictured) most controversial looks

Harouche is credited as the brains behind Christina Aguilera's (left) 50s pin-up style as well as some of Miley Cyrus's (right) most controversial looks 

Harouche immediately left Paris for Los Angeles, where she lives with her real estate husband Marc Bretter, son Dashiel and daughter Azlan (pictured, a throwback Harouche posted of her and her husband)

Harouche immediately left Paris for Los Angeles, where she lives with her real estate husband Marc Bretter, son Dashiel and daughter Azlan (pictured, a throwback Harouche posted of her and her husband)

THE CRIME WITH ALL OF THE HALLMARKS OF THE NOTORIOUS PINK PANTHERS 

The robbery bore the hallmarks of the Pink Panthers, a gang of criminals who have got away with more than £280million in jewels in a series of high-profile raids since 1984.

The crime network, whose members mostly come from Serbia and Montenegro, are known for their thorough planning and for using ‘disguise and the element of surprise’ before overpowering their targets with minimum violence.

In the raid on Miss Kardashian, the five men wore police arm bands, waited until there was little security and spoke English with heavy accents.

The robbery bore the hallmarks of the Pink Panthers, a gang of criminals who have got away with more than £280million in jewels in a series of high-profile raids since 1984

The robbery bore the hallmarks of the Pink Panthers, a gang of criminals who have got away with more than £280million in jewels in a series of high-profile raids since 1984

The Pink Panthers got their nickname after a London robbery in 2003 when a thief hid a diamond in a pot of beauty cream, similar to the plot of one of the Pink Panther movies about an inept French detective, played by Peter Sellers. The group, which has hit targets around the world including in Cannes, Tokyo, Singapore and Dubai, are a loose network of around 200 criminals.

Their ruses to gain entry have included dressing as golfers, Hawaiian tourists, workmen and police officers, and for getaway vehicles they have used everything from bicycles in Tokyo to speedboats in St Tropez.

One of the gang’s most audacious crimes was at the Wafi Mall in Dubai in 2007. In two high-powered cars, they smashed their way into the mall. A man in a black bodysuit and balaclava leaped from one car, which then reversed into the door of a Graff Diamonds store.

Armed with a gun and a hammer, he helped himself to £2.1million of diamonds and the gang then sped off, all within 170 seconds. In 1984, three crooks with machine guns stormed into a jewellery shop at the Carlton Hotel in Cannes and cleared its shelves of £39million worth of gems.

In 1984, three crooks with machine guns stormed into a jewellery shop at the Carlton Hotel in Cannes and cleared its shelves of £39million worth of gems

In 1984, three crooks with machine guns stormed into a jewellery shop at the Carlton Hotel in Cannes and cleared its shelves of £39million worth of gems

In 2014, Borko Ilincic, a 33-year-old Serbian, was detained by Spanish police in the town of Alcala de Henares, just outside Madrid.

He has been described as one of the ‘leaders’ of the Pink Panthers – but their survival and success depends on them being a loose and non-hierarchical network who work independently in cells, so his arrest may have had no effect on the gang’s effectiveness.

Detectives investigating the Kardashian raid are likely to have contacted colleagues in Madrid, Belgrade and Interpol’s headquarters in Lyon to see if this could have been another robbery by the Pink Panthers or a similar Eastern European gang.

Police in France have described the robbery as 'extremely rare' and said the robbers were focused on 'possessions that had been seen and noticed via social media'.

On Thursday, Kardashian posted a close-up photograph of a huge diamond ring on her left hand captioned with three diamond emojis. 

Johanna Primevert, chief spokeswoman for the Paris police department, told the Associated Press: 'This is the result of people who obviously posed as policemen and who assaulted Ms Kardashian in a private hotel in her room by threat of a weapon.

'This kind of incident is extremely rare in Paris. This is a star who is famous worldwide. 

'Do not confuse what happened to Ms Kardashian and probably was the result of an organised team who had planned their action with the assault of a tourist in front of Notre Dame [cathedral] or another tourist spot in Paris.'

Only two of the five suspects are believed to have forced their way into the apartment, in the eighth district of Paris behind the Madeleine church, according to the city's prosecutors' office. 

Around an hour before the robbery, Kim posted a video on Snapchat showing her wearing the 15-carat engagement ring (pictured) as she FaceTimed Blac Chyna
Around an hour before the robbery, Kim posted a video on Snapchat showing her wearing the 15-carat engagement ring (pictured) as she FaceTimed Blac Chyna

Around an hour before the robbery, Kim posted a video on Snapchat showing her wearing the 15-carat engagement ring (pictured) as she FaceTimed Blac Chyna

French police officers stood guard outside the scene of the robbery at the Hotel de Pourtalès (pictured) complex where armed robbers bound and gagged Kardashian

French police officers stood guard outside the scene of the robbery at the Hotel de Pourtalès (pictured) complex where armed robbers bound and gagged Kardashian

Kardashian's husband, rapper West, abruptly cut short his show at the Meadows Music and Arts Festival in New York after being told the news on stage - and told the crowd: 'I'm sorry, family emergency, I have to stop the show.'

Just days before the attack, Kardashian heaped praise on her German bodyguard Duvier after he rugby tackled a notorious celebrity prankster who tried to grab the star as she walked into a restaurant. 

Just hours before the raid she shared a photograph of herself on Twitter, with Duvier in the background, captioned: 'This guy is always in my shot!'

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