Police have been attempting to trace motorcyclist spotted close to scene of quadruple murder near Lake Annecy in 2012
The neighbour of a former policeman who has been arrested in connection with the murder of Iraqi-born Briton Saad al-Hilli, two members of his family and a passing cyclist in the French Alps saw police take away a motorcycle from his home on Tuesday evening.
Patrick Chiaberge told the Guardian on Wednesday that he watched from an upstairs window from his house in the village of Talloires, outside Annecy, as the light-coloured motorbike was loaded onto a police van. A black motorbike, covered in a yellow tarpaulin, was outside the arrested man's garage on Wednesday morning.
Police have been attempting to trace a motorcyclist who was spotted close to the scene of the murder of Hilli, 50, his wife Iqbal, 47, and her mother, Suhaila-al-Allaf, 74, at around the same time that they were massacred in a layby above the village of Chevaline, to the south of Lake Annecy, on 5 September 2012. A French cyclist, Sylvain Mollier, 45, was also found dead at the scene. But Hilli's two young daughters survived.
The 48-year-old former municipal policeman was arrested as he left home on Tuesday, but Annecy prosecutor Eric Maillaud said he was not necessarily a suspect. The man, who may be able to shed light on the murder mystery and who had no direct link to the Hilli family, was still being interviewed on Wednesday.
Sources close to the investigation said the man's relatives are also to be questioned. Maillaud is due to hold a press conference later in the day.
The arrest came three months after police issued an efit of the bearded motorcyclist, who was wearing a full face helmet with an unusual side fastening used by French gendarmes.
Chiaberge, a retired electrical engineer, said that about 20 to 30 gendarmes arrived at the former policeman's house on Tuesday morning. "They had dogs. They took out a Geiger counter and marked the garden, then they dug the marked spots with a spade."
He saw the paramilitary police, who worked until after dark, taking away guns from the property. According to BFM-TV, the gendarmes found a Luger gun, although not of the same calibre as the P06 handgun used by the lone gunman.
"I saw the gendarmes take out a motorbike, which wasn't the same one that's here now. It was the first time I'd seen any motorbike," he said.
A grey Fiat Panda car was also parked on Wednesday morning outside the man's shuttered house, which is on a small housing estate at the entrance to Tailloires, a village in the shadow of towering snow-dusted peaks which has commanding views over Lake Annecy.
Chiaberge described his next door neighbour as "discreet". He said that since he moved to Tailloires in October: "I'd only seen him from behind. I don't even know what he looks like."
The arrested man, who lives with his partner and has three children, was employed by the nearby town hall of Menthon-Saint-Bernard as a policemen until he lost his job last June.
He was a regular customer at the Café de la Place in Menthon-Saint-Bernard, 2km (1.25 miles) from Tailloires, where the manager told the Guardian: "He was a policeman here, of course we knew him. But people shouldn't accuse him before they know if he did anything wrong." The newsagent in the village also said she knew him but refused to comment further.
Tuesday's arrest was the first by French police. Hilli's brother Zaid, who has denied any responsibility for the murders, was released without charge last month by Surrey police amid speculation that the crime may have been committed in a family dispute over an inheritance. Reported by guardian.co.uk 23 hours ago.
The neighbour of a former policeman who has been arrested in connection with the murder of Iraqi-born Briton Saad al-Hilli, two members of his family and a passing cyclist in the French Alps saw police take away a motorcycle from his home on Tuesday evening.
Patrick Chiaberge told the Guardian on Wednesday that he watched from an upstairs window from his house in the village of Talloires, outside Annecy, as the light-coloured motorbike was loaded onto a police van. A black motorbike, covered in a yellow tarpaulin, was outside the arrested man's garage on Wednesday morning.
Police have been attempting to trace a motorcyclist who was spotted close to the scene of the murder of Hilli, 50, his wife Iqbal, 47, and her mother, Suhaila-al-Allaf, 74, at around the same time that they were massacred in a layby above the village of Chevaline, to the south of Lake Annecy, on 5 September 2012. A French cyclist, Sylvain Mollier, 45, was also found dead at the scene. But Hilli's two young daughters survived.
The 48-year-old former municipal policeman was arrested as he left home on Tuesday, but Annecy prosecutor Eric Maillaud said he was not necessarily a suspect. The man, who may be able to shed light on the murder mystery and who had no direct link to the Hilli family, was still being interviewed on Wednesday.
Sources close to the investigation said the man's relatives are also to be questioned. Maillaud is due to hold a press conference later in the day.
The arrest came three months after police issued an efit of the bearded motorcyclist, who was wearing a full face helmet with an unusual side fastening used by French gendarmes.
Chiaberge, a retired electrical engineer, said that about 20 to 30 gendarmes arrived at the former policeman's house on Tuesday morning. "They had dogs. They took out a Geiger counter and marked the garden, then they dug the marked spots with a spade."
He saw the paramilitary police, who worked until after dark, taking away guns from the property. According to BFM-TV, the gendarmes found a Luger gun, although not of the same calibre as the P06 handgun used by the lone gunman.
"I saw the gendarmes take out a motorbike, which wasn't the same one that's here now. It was the first time I'd seen any motorbike," he said.
A grey Fiat Panda car was also parked on Wednesday morning outside the man's shuttered house, which is on a small housing estate at the entrance to Tailloires, a village in the shadow of towering snow-dusted peaks which has commanding views over Lake Annecy.
Chiaberge described his next door neighbour as "discreet". He said that since he moved to Tailloires in October: "I'd only seen him from behind. I don't even know what he looks like."
The arrested man, who lives with his partner and has three children, was employed by the nearby town hall of Menthon-Saint-Bernard as a policemen until he lost his job last June.
He was a regular customer at the Café de la Place in Menthon-Saint-Bernard, 2km (1.25 miles) from Tailloires, where the manager told the Guardian: "He was a policeman here, of course we knew him. But people shouldn't accuse him before they know if he did anything wrong." The newsagent in the village also said she knew him but refused to comment further.
Tuesday's arrest was the first by French police. Hilli's brother Zaid, who has denied any responsibility for the murders, was released without charge last month by Surrey police amid speculation that the crime may have been committed in a family dispute over an inheritance. Reported by guardian.co.uk 23 hours ago.