Ex-French 400m champion arrested for alleged theft

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November 14, 2016 7:06 PM

Former French 400m indoor champion Toumany Coulibaly, already sentenced for a series of burglaries, has again been arrested following an alleged theft in a supermarket, a police source said on Monday.

France's former (C) 400 m indoor champion, Toumany Coulibaly, seen in 2015, had already been sentenced for a series of burglaries in 2013 and 2014

The 28-year-old was arrested as he left a hypermarket in a southern suburb of Paris in the early hours of Sunday with a bag containing "up to 60 laptop computers and tablets", the police source said.

"We were watching him for some time. We waited to see who his accomplices were and when it was going to happen," the source added.

Three other people fled the scene.

Coulibaly, already sentenced for a series of burglaries in 2013 and 2015, previously told newspaper Le Parisien that "athletics saved me" from a life of crime.

In February 2015 he became French 400m indoor champion, claiming that he would sort his life out as he had a "huge opportunity with respect to my family, my town. You can't throw it all away".

However, he told French sports daily l'Equipe in an interview last May that the night of winning the title he burgled a telephone shop in Les Ulis, south of Paris.

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