French police raid Ritz hotel in investigation into Mohamed Al Fayed sexual abuse | Mohamed Al Fayed

French police have made arrests after raiding three properties, including the Ritz hotel in Paris, as part of an investigation into sexual abuse and trafficking by Mohamed Al Fayed.

Several individuals were taken into custody for questioning last month and then released, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office. Another property in Paris and one in Saint-Tropez, both linked to Fayed, were also searched in mid-October.

Several of Fayed’s alleged victims were also interviewed by agents of the organized crime section of the Paris prosecutor’s office.

He added that the searches were part of a preliminary investigation into “allegations of human trafficking committed by an organized group, aggravated pimping committed by an organized group and rape.”

In an email sent to survivors of Fayed’s alleged abuse earlier today, the Metropolitan Police said its officers were present during the searches on October 13 and 14, as part of an operation coordinated with French investigators.

The Paris prosecutor’s office indicated: “Search searches and evidence collection operations were carried out in mid-October 2026, notably at the Ritz hotel in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, as well as at the Villa Sainte-Thérèse in Saint-Tropez, former property of Mohamed Al Fayed, and at the Villa Windsor in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, in the presence of British investigators.

The investigation is ongoing and the digital material seized during the searches is being analyzed, the press release added.

One of the properties raided was the Castel Sainte-Thérèse in Saint-Tropez, one of the most exclusive villas on the French Riviera, and where Diana, Princess of Wales, stayed with her sons in the summer of 1997, at the start of her relationship with Fayed’s son Dodi.

The other was Villa Windsor, a former holiday home of the Fayed family. The property west of Paris was previously the family home of Charles de Gaulle, before he was president of France, and of King Edward VIII, after his abdication, and his wife, Wallis Simpson.

A Met spokesperson confirmed its officers visited France last month and were present during the operation.

Campaign groups representing Fayed’s alleged victims have called on the Met Police to carry out their own searches of the late billionaire’s properties.

Justice for Fayed and Harrods Survivors co-chairs Jen Mills and Lindsay Mason said: “We want to see the same rigor applied to every property where survivors say they were robbed or abused, including here in Britain. The raids in Paris and St Tropez must be the start, not the end.”

A spokesperson for No One Above, a collective of survivors of Fayed’s alleged abuse, said: “French authorities have handed the case over to their specialist trafficking unit and organized crime prosecutors, and are investigating this matter as organized gang trafficking.

“The evidence in this case was never limited to Harrods. For two years the Met avoided treating this as what France recognized from the start: trafficking organized by a network. The National Crime Agency should now take over the investigation.”

Pelham Spong, who says she was trafficked to Paris on Fayed’s orders in 2008 before being sent to London to be sexually assaulted by him, said she was delighted by the French police raids. “Survivors deserve actions, not words,” she added.

Last November, she told French investigators from the Central Office for the Suppression of Trafficking in Human Beings that Fayed, owner of the Ritz hotel in Paris, had kissed her by force and offered her a salary of €65,000 a year if she slept with him.

Survivor groups say more than 500 women have spoken out about abuse allegedly taking place at Harrods, Park Lane, Fulham Football Club, the Ritz Hotel in Paris and other venues owned by Fayed. The Met is investigating 169 victims who contacted the force directly.

The Ritz Paris told Agence France-Presse that it “does not tolerate any form of harassment, abuse or inappropriate behavior” and is ready “to cooperate fully with the relevant judicial authorities.”