Armed gang robs Ritz
FRANCE: Armed robbers entered the luxury Ritz Hotel in Paris and stole valuable jewels and other goods from a hotel boutique yesterday, carrying out an unusually brazen heist in one of the world’s most prestigious neighbourhoods.
Three suspects were quickly arrested near the chic Place Vendome in central Paris, but at least two others got away, a police official said. No-one was injured.
None of the jewels or other items had been recovered so far, said an official familiar with the investigation.
French media estimated that the stolen merchandise was worth at least €4.5 million (NZ$7.48m). Police could not confirm the sum.
One official said some of the thieves apparently had guns, but he could not confirm reports that they used hatchets to smash the glass.
The thieves appeared to have entered through a side street entrance, smashed display cases in the Reza jewellery store and possibly others, and took valuables, one of the officials said. Reza is among several elite shops in the five-star Hotel Ritz, where rooms start at €1000 (NZ$1660) a night.
Two people were inside the store at the time and alerted police, the official said.
A woman leaving the Ritz after the robbery described drinking a cocktail in the hotel’s Hemingway Bar when ‘‘total panic’’ broke out.
‘‘I saw hooded men with guns, and then my only aim was getting out of there. So I left through the bar. I escaped. I ran and ran,’’ said the woman, who gave only her first name, Jennifer.
‘‘I found myself in the basement of the Ritz, and then I continued to run without knowing how to get around. I didn’t know what had happened. I thought it was an attack,’’
Several high-end Paris jewellery stores have been targets of dramatic robberies in recent years. American socialite Kim Kardashian West said she lost millions of dollars’ worth of jewellery when she was robbed at gunpoint in a Paris apartment in October 2016.
The area of the city is considered well-secured, with police routinely patrolling the Place Vendome, which is home to the Justice Ministry and luxury stores in addition to the Ritz.
– AP