Jewellery worth millions stolen from Paris Ritz

POLICE arrested three men and were hunting for two more after a spectacular jewellery heist at the Ritz Hotel in Paris in which a reported €4 million (£3.5m) of precious stones were taken.

Five men burst into the hotel at around 6.30pm yesterday and smashed display cases in a jewellery shop inside the premises, according to police who did not confirm media reports that they were armed with guns and axes. The robbers made their escape on scooters but soon ran into a police patrol. Officers managed to arrest three of them but two more escaped. A huge police operation was under way to find the remaining two suspects.

The Place Vendome area was shut down as police set up a huge security perimeter in the chic district, whose streets are lined with high-end fashion and jewellery stores.

It was not immediately clear if any of the stolen goods were recovered when police arrested the three suspects. No injuries were reported in the incident, although some reports on Twitter said that the robbers burst into the Hemingway bar in the hotel and fired their weapons.

The hotel, which is owned by Mohamed Fayed, reopened last year after four years of refurbishment work.

The Ritz was the last building that Diana, Princess of Wales and Dodi Fayed, Mr Fayed’s son, left before their journey that ended in a car crash under the Pont de l’alma on Aug 31 1997.

The driver, Henri Paul, was the hotel’s deputy head of security.