Dec. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Armed robbers stole diamonds valued at 85 million euros ($108 million) from the Paris branch of jeweler Harry Winston, the city prosecutors’ office said.
Four armed men entered the store on Avenue Montaigne near the Champs-Elysees shortly before its 5:30 p.m. closing time yesterday, prosecutors’ spokeswoman Isabelle Montagne said. They took almost all the jewels on display and forced the staff to give them diamonds from storage. No shots were fired, she said.
“We are clearly dealing with well-organized, ruthless criminals,” Montagne said. Police investigators removed forensic evidence from the store, she said.
The branch was closed today, with a sole security guard outside saying he knew nothing about what happened yesterday. Three of the window displays were empty, while a diamond pendant and two jewel-encrusted watches were in the other two.
Television news cameras and curious tourists gathered on the street. “How on earth are they going to fence all that,” asked Richard Conacher, a 39-year-old pub worker from Melbourne.
The store is part of the Toronto-based Harry Winston Diamond Corp. A telephone call to the company’s offices before business hours wasn’t immediately returned.
The largest-ever jewelry heist took place in February 2003, when thieves took diamonds valued at 100 million euros from vaults at Antwerp’s diamond exchange, according to Agence France- Presse.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=acLU402yr1uQ&refer=europe
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