BREAKING NEWS: 'Mastermind' behind Kim Kardashian Paris gem raid and a 70-year-old woman are among six new suspects charged by French police

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The alleged mastermind of the Kim Kardashian Paris robbery has been charged, according to a French prosecutor.

Those indicted, who include a 70-year-old woman, face prison sentences for last October’s well-organised heist if found guilty. 

A total of 10 have now been charged including five accused of a direct role in the robbery, during which Kardashian was bound and gagged, then robbed at gunpoint of jewellery worth almost £9 million.

The alleged mastermind of the Kim Kardashian Paris robbery has been charged, according to a French prosecutor

Yesterday, authorities have filed the first charges against four suspects in the armed jewelry heist, and said more charges were expected to follow.

Kardashian West's sister, Khloe Kardashian, welcomed the step forward in the French probe as a 'kind of closure' and denounced the robbery as 'a disgusting act'.  

The robbers made off with the reality TV star's 20-carat Lorraine Schwartz engagement ring worth £3.5million and a case of jewellery with a value of £5.24million. 

The heist on October 3 was France's biggest jewellery theft involving a private citizen in more than two decades. 

Five suspects were identified by their surname initials as Aomar A., 60; Pierre B., 72; Francois D., 54; Harminy A. 29; and Christiane G., the 70-year-old woman.

A sixth, who was named in full, was Didier Dubreucq, 61 and a convicted drug runner nicknamed ‘Blue Eyes’. 

The prosecutor's office said yesterday that six more people could also be charged today. 

Reality star Kim, 36, was woken at 2.35am on October 3 as she slept in her luxury Paris apartment

Among those arrested previously was Gary Madar, 40, brother of Ms Kardashian’s limousine driver, Michael Madar, who has been released without charge.

Gary Madar and an accomplice called Florus H, 44, are is alleged to have informed the robbers of Ms Kardashian’s schedule while she was in the French capital for Paris Fashion Week.

The fourth man charged is Marceau B, 64, who allegedly travelled to Antwerp, Europe’s diamond capital, to dispose of the jewels.

He has been indicted for concealment of stolen goods in an organised gang, and criminal association.

Marceau B. is also a career criminal, with more than 10 convictions behind him, including one in 1998 for possession and transport of counterfeit money, and one for aggravated theft.

He was released from prison at the end of 2011 and charged six months later in a forgery case, but was finally acquitted last summer.

Bling: Kim posted this image of the stolen £3.5m engagement ring on Instagram before the robbery

‘Marceau the Gypsey’ is said to have travelled to Antwerp with ‘Old Omar’, another suspect still in custody in the days after the robbery.

Telephones owned by the two suspects were tracked to the Belgian port town.

‘Old Omar’ was dragged from his bed in Creteil, a suburb in south-east Paris, along with his two sons, on Monday morning.

The 60-year-old's fingerprints are said to have been found on plastic ties used to bind Ms Kardashian's hands.

‘Marceau the Gypsy’ was detained at a Roma site on the outskirts of the French capital.

The age of the suspects has echoes of the 2015 Hatton Garden safe deposit robbery in London – carried out by a team of veteran British criminals. 

Earlier today, a source close to the investigation said the suspects were 'beginning to admit their involvement' in the robbery. 

After holding a security guard and Ms Kadashian at gunpoint, the robbers left the 36-year-old reality TV star bound and gagged in a bath. 

The gang escaped on 'velibs' - hire bicycles which can be rented all over Paris - but one of them dropped a diamond pendant worth around £28,000 in the street outside.

It was found by a woman who handed it in to police, as grainy CCTV of the men on bikes also emerged.

Police said the butter-fingered thief who lost the necklace had effectively led them to the entire group of suspects. 

Police arrested 17 people over the robbery on Monday morning, including two brothers in their 50s accused of disposing of a $4m engagement ring. Two men are pictured being arrested during the dawn raids

A DNA match from the necklace, along with tape used to gag Ms Kardashian, enabled detectives to trace key members of the gang. 

A surveillance operation then led detectives to the other suspects, including jewel dealers thought to have been involved in fencing the stolen gems.  

A source close to the investigation said: 'The CCTV is of very poor quality, but body shapes can still be matched up.

'The telephone evidence is strong, as is the DNA. 

'When faced with this kind of evidence it is very hard for suspects to say they were not present.'