Masked robbers wielding an assault rifle held up the De Beers jewellery store in central Paris in broad daylight, escaping on motorbikes with loot valued at over one million euros.
The armed robbery took place at approximately 11:00 on Rue de la Paix in the city’s second arrondissement, idnes.cz reported. The location sits near Vendôme Square, an upscale shopping district housing numerous luxury jewellers in Europe.
Four masked men targeted the store, with at least one carrying an assault rifle, according to a police source cited by idnes.cz. The perpetrators threatened staff with their weapons before fleeing toward Rue Rivoli and taking the A4 motorway via the Porte de Bercy bridge.
No injuries occurred during the incident, as the attackers only used their weapons to threaten staff members. Fabien Bogais of the police trade union told the Associated Press at the scene that the robbers stole merchandise worth hundreds of thousands of euros within minutes.
The Paris prosecutor’s office opened an investigation into organized armed robbery, assigning the case to the brigade for the suppression of organized crime, known as BRB. The exact value of the stolen goods remains under official evaluation by prosecutors, though police sources place the figure above one million euros.
A spokesperson for De Beers confirmed that nobody sustained physical injuries during the raid. The company provided psychological support to affected employees, and the store remains temporarily closed while the investigation proceeds.
Armed, masked robbers on motorcycles frequently target luxury jewellery stores during opening hours around Vendôme Square. This latest incident follows a high-profile October heist where thieves stole crown jewels worth 88 million euros from the Louvre in broad daylight, exposing severe security vulnerabilities at Paris’s most famous museum, idnes.cz noted.
