 "A security guard stands in front of the Pyramide du Louvre, designed by Chinese-US architect Ieoh Ming Pei, with the Louvre Museum in the background in Paris. The Louvre Museum has reopened its doors to visitors aftet the October 19 robbery by four criminals, who made off with eight jewels. AFP")
Thieves in northern France have stolen jewellery valued at up to $1.2 million, police said on Saturday.
According to authorities, the robbers broke into a jewellery shop in the centre of Roubaix, near Lille, on Wednesday. They briefly held the shop owner and his wife hostage before fleeing with the high-value items.
Police estimated the stolen jewellery to be worth “between 500,000 and one million euros” ($580,000 to $1.2 million). An investigation has been opened on charges including kidnapping, armed extortion and involvement in organised crime.
In a separate incident earlier the same day, a group of suspects blew open a cash-handling safe at Roubaix’s main post office and ran off with a bag stored inside. It was later discovered that the bag contained nothing but other empty bags. Six people were arrested later that evening.
Straight from the Louvre heist playbook
These incidents follow another major theft last month, when a group carried out a bold daytime robbery at the Louvre museum in Paris, escaping with jewellery worth an estimated $102 million. The jewels included a tiara, necklace, and a single earring from the sapphire set once owned by Queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense.
They also stole an emerald necklace and matching earrings from Empress Marie-Louise’s collection.
In addition, they took a “reliquary” brooch, the tiara of Empress Eugénie, and a large diamond corsage-bow brooch belonging to her. Empress Eugénie’s emerald- and diamond-studded crown was also dropped during their escape and later recovered, though it was damaged.
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View AllSeveral people have been taken into custody over the Louvre jewellery heist.
Among them are two men from Aubervilliers, aged 34 and 39, who were charged with organised theft and criminal conspiracy—one was arrested at Charles de Gaulle Airport while trying to fly to Algeria, and the other was detained at home after investigators found his DNA on a smashed display case. Two more suspects, a 37-year-old man and a 38-year-old woman, were also charged, with the woman accused of acting as an accomplice.
In total, seven people were arrested during the investigation, though three were later released without charges. One of the suspects was identified after DNA at the scene matched his profile, and another woman, linked to one of the main suspects, was released under judicial supervision with travel and contact restrictions.