Gavin Grey: UK correspondent on French police arresting over 20 suspects over cryptocurrency kidnappings

French police have arrested at least 20 people following a number of kidnapping plots targeting  cryptocurrency entrepreneurs and their families.

Authorities said the arrests were connected to investigations into a recent abduction attempt in Nantes - and another attempted kidnapping in Paris in May.

UK correspondent Gavin Grey unpacks the investigations. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Kevin Gray are UK correspondents with us? Now, Hey, Kevin,
hi there, given I'm fascinated by the fact that the
French are not interested in that marital chove. What do
you think?

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Yeah, it does seem funny, doesn't it. But I have
to say I think the French do have a very
different attitude towards affairs, affairs of the heart, but also
just towards sort of people's personal behavior and particularly over
there bringing up of a family and what is and
is not acceptable with regard to punishment and so forth,

(00:31):
and certainly with regard to romantics or affairs. We've seen
several former presidents prime ministers of France have an affair
and the country really not take that much notice. They
really do think that is personal. They don't think it's
got anything to do with their jobs, so they can't
see why its of interest to the rest of us.
The rest of the world's media, however, have really poured

(00:52):
into this. And when you look through that footage of
the plane door opening, you know on so many state visits,
it's so well choreographed. The fact that he was standing
there and then got this push and then says it
was a joke when you slow the footage down. It
doesn't look that particularly jokey to me, No, not at all.

Speaker 1 (01:09):
That's it's a really interesting attitude from the fringe. Is
this an attitude that is just you know, like as
in your personal life is your personal life and nobody
else has a say on it. Is that exclusive to
politicians or do they extend it to everybody?

Speaker 2 (01:25):
It's pretty much extended to everybody in the public life, unless,
of course, you are an advocate of one thing and
then come out in your personal life and do something different.
But certainly when you when you look at some of
the big stars Jeradepaju of course being in court recently
and found guilty of various charges against women on film
sets and so forth, they do really have a different

(01:47):
attitude because they seem to think, well, it's you know
that that's part of their personal lives, nothing to do
with us. It's not to do with their job. As
long as I still like that politician or I like
that actor, or I like that celebrity, then that's nothing
to do with me. But in other countries, of course
New Zealand UK no different. It can cost somebody their job,
It can certainly cost somebody their reputation, and so that

(02:10):
attitude from France, I must say, I can't think of many,
if any other countries around the world that has that
similar sort of less a fair look.

Speaker 1 (02:17):
Yeah, it's totally they may and staying in France. By
the way, I see that they've erased it around it
up more than twenty people. About those cryptocurrency kidnappings.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
Yes, there have been lots of cryptocurrency kidnappings or attempted
kidnappings in France, and this is all because the apparently
the crooks believe this is a quick way to make money.
Identify those who have a large cryptocurrency holding, hold a
relative to ransom, and then simply demand the cryptocurrency over,

(02:46):
much more difficult to trace than hard cash, much easier
to transfer than hard cash. So police have now rested
it's thought twenty four people taken into custody, and the
whole incident was really been sparked by the fact there
have been a number of kidnapping plots, but more recently,
earlier in May, there was an attempted kidnapping of a

(03:07):
woman and child in Paris, and it's believed that one
other member of the family was a cryptocurrency multi multi millionaire.
And it also follows a couple of other happenings right
across France, but mostly in and around Paris, where there
have been these abductions or attempted abductions.

Speaker 1 (03:24):
Given where are the remains of the Spanish saint.

Speaker 2 (03:28):
These are fascinating actually because of course saints are supposed
to effectively not decay very much when they die. That
is a sign of them being saintly. So Catholic worshippers
have been turning up to alber de Tomes, it's in
western Spain, to view relics of Saint Theresa of Avilla.

(03:48):
She's a sixteenth century religious reformer. She's in a silver casket,
and the faithful have lined up in their tens of
thousands to see her. Silent and wonderstruck. As the remains
of the miss have been put on display for the
first time in more than one hundred years now, it
is effectively like seeing somebody in an open top silver coffin,
and they're just a skeleton. She died in fifteen eighty

(04:12):
two and is a big, big figure and a big
player from Spain's Golden Age and the sixteenth century counter Reformation.
But some are saying, is this just like tourism morbidity. Yeah,
but tourism curiosity in the morbid So that's what they're
looking at. But others are saying, no, it's good to
shop the saints as they are.

Speaker 1 (04:30):
Yeah, Kevin, thanks very much. I really appreciate Skevin Gray
are UK correspondent.

Speaker 2 (04:35):
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