Motorway thieves steal French jewels
A group of "battle-hardened" armed thieves attacked two heavily guarded vans carrying jewels at a French motorway toll in the dead of night, making off with a haul worth some nine million euros ($11 million), police said yesterday.
Security forces were working to find those behind the heist, which took place around midnight on a motorway in the Yonne district some 200 southeast of Paris, searching within a large perimeter around the area and under the watch of air support.
A police source, who wished to remain anonymous, said there were around 15 robbers, all "heavily armed and battle-hardened."
No one was hurt in the holdup and the Avallon toll booth itself was not damaged, prosecutors and the firm managing the motorway said, suggesting the work of professionals.
The vans were found burnt and abandoned in a field not far from the toll station, and it was as yet unclear exactly how the assault unfolded.
Attacks on armoured vehicles carrying jewels or cash often require special equipment such as explosives or assault rifles, and while they occurred regularly at the beginning of the 2000s in France, they have dwindled in recent years.
When it comes to jewellery, the country's most spectacular heist was a double robbery at a Harry Winston shop in an upmarket part of Paris in 2007 and 2008.
Comments