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France heist: Armed men rob ‘several million euros’ from luxury Paris boutique
The robbers entered the Paris jewellery store, located on Tony Avenue Montaigne, using a two-wheeler and stole valuables from several windows.
A group of armed men on Saturday robbed valuables worth several million euros from a luxury boutique in Paris belonging to a self-declared ‘Jeweler to the Stars’ Harry Winston. According to the French prosecutors, at least three persons were involved in the crime.
The robbers entered the jewellery store, located on the Tony Avenue Montaigne, using a two-wheeler and stole valuables from several windows. While two of the accused robbed the store, one of them was standing and keeping a watch while holding a long-barreled firearm, the police said, reported news agency AP.
"As they sped away, they pointed the firearm in the direction of police officers, who had to put an end to their pursuit…The damage, currently being assessed, is several million euros,” the French police said, AP quoted.
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The police are currently on the lookout for the robbers.
Meanwhile, Winston has not commented on the incident yet.
In 2008, Winston's luxury store was robbed, during which three cross-dressing gunmen stole valuables worth around 92 million dollars in loot. The accused were convicted in 2015 in the case.
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In a separate incident last week, gunmen attacked a prison van at a motorway toll in northern France, killing at least two prison officers and freeing a convict who had been jailed the same week. The incident took place late morning at a road toll in Incarville in the Eure region while the inmate was being transported between the towns of Rouen and Evreux in Normandy.
It was not immediately clear how many attackers there were in total.
Following the incident, French President Emmanuel Macron vowed that everything would be done to find those behind the attack as hundreds of members of the security forces were deployed for a manhunt to find the attackers and the inmate.
“Everything is being done to find the perpetrators of this crime…We will be uncompromising,” Macron said.
(With inputs from AP)
