Payet was captured on September 21, 2007, in the town of Mataró, a suburb north of Barcelona in Spain. He was transferred to French custody on October 4, 2007, along with two accomplices who had been captured with him, Alain Armato and Farid Ouassou. He was then imprisoned in a location which has been kept secret for "security reasons." On June 25, 2008, the cour d'assises of the Alpes-Maritimes department sentenced him to 15 years in prison with no chance of early release for a series of armed robberies and assaults against police officers while he evaded custody.