Armed robbers pulled off one of the world’s biggest jewelry heists at a famed Paris store, making off with 85 million euros (US$107 million) in diamonds and valuables, officials said on Friday.
A gang of four thieves — two of them disguised as women — on Thursday stole nearly all the jewels on display at the Harry Winston boutique just off the Champs-Elysees avenue, which attracts a wealthy international clientele.
The heist was well-planned, a source from the investigating team said. The men knew the names of some of the shop’s employees and the location of some hidden storage cases for jewelry.
The robbers managed to elude the high-security surveillance system and burst into the boutique at 5:30pm, at the height of the holiday shopping season.
Brandishing weapons, they threatened some of the dozen employees and customers and herded them into a corner, while some of the staff suffered blows, investigators said.
The US jeweler has reported losses to its insurer of 85 million euros, the Paris prosecutor’s office said, making it by far the biggest jewelry heist yet in France. Earlier estimates put the jewels’ value at 80 million euros.
Police said they were dealing with “major pros” who had meticulously planned their crime and knew the boutique’s lay-out well, suggesting it may have been an inside job.
The thieves, who apparently were French-speaking, stuffed brooches, rings, necklaces and other finery in bags and quickly left, without firing a shot. The whole operation lasted just 15 minutes.
No leads were ruled out including the possibility that the robbers may have connections in eastern Europe, where the loot could be sold, contrary to western Europe where such high-value stolen goods would be quickly detected. Police described the eastern European market as a “new El Dorado for traffickers” trying to get rid of high-end stolen goods.
Investigators were on Friday questioning customers, employees and pedestrians and studying surveillance camera tapes for clues, while Harry Winston’s head branch in New York said it was working closely with the French authorities.
“We are cooperating with the authorities in their investigation. Our first concern is the well-being of our employees,” the company said in a statement.
The Harry Winston store on Avenue Montaigne, which specializes in ultra-luxury jewelry, was hit by another heist in October last year when armed robbers stole an estimated 10 million euros worth of valuables.
An insurance company offered a US$500,000 reward for information leading to the thieves’ arrest but they were never found.
The Harry Winston jewelry chain has sold precious stones to royal families and lent them to film stars for events such as the Cannes film festival or the Oscars in Hollywood.
Belgium holds the record for the world’s biggest jewelry heist when diamonds worth 100 million euros or more were stolen on Feb. 14, 2003, in Antwerp.
A 1.8 million euro necklace was stolen in June 2001 from the Alexandre Reza shop in Cannes on the French Riviera, followed a month later by a 3.8 million euro heist at a Van Cleef and Arpels shop in the same city.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
RSS