French police investigating the armed robbery of Kim Kardashian West in Paris last year have released a driver used by the star along with two other people, a legal source has told Agence France-Presse.

Fourteen people remain in custody, including a 72-year-old man who is suspected of being among the armed gang who took part in the break-in at a luxury apartment in central Paris, making off with jewellery worth about €9m (£8m).

Two other people who were arrested earlier this week have been released, the source said.

Police have been investigating whether the gang had been tipped off that Kardashian West’s bodyguard was providing security for her sister, Kourtney, at a nightclub in the city on the night of the robbery.

Investigators suspect they have detained five men who took part in the theft. Police tracked down the suspects after finding DNA at the crime scene, which led to a surveillance operation.

Armed and masked men wearing police uniforms burst into Kardashian West’s residence in the chic Madeleine area of the capital, where she and her entourage were staying during Paris fashion week in October.

Kardashian, 36, was tied up and locked in the bathroom. The haul included a ring worth about €4m.

The robbery generated more unwanted publicity for Paris, which has had its image damaged by terror attacks in 2015 and last year. Luxury hotel bookings and foreign tourist arrivals in France are both down.

The biggest French jewellery heist occurred in July 2013, when robbers attacked an exhibition of Extraordinary Diamonds at the Carlton hotel in Cannes and made off with an estimated €103m in jewels.