Another robbery in France after Louvre heist, $1.2 million jewellery stolen from Roubaix
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Another robbery in France after Louvre heist, $1.2 million jewellery stolen from Roubaix")
File photo of France's Louvre Museum. Photograph: (AFP)
Police estimated that the stolen items were worth between 500,000 and one million euros ($580,000 and $1.2 million). In response to the incident, police have opened an investigation into kidnapping, organised crime and armed extortion.
Jewellery worth up to $1.2 million has been stolen in northern France, police confirmed on Saturday. The burglars reportedly broke into a jewellery boutique in central Roubaix, near Lille, on Wednesday, and briefly held the jeweller and his wife hostage before fleeing with the valuables.
According to a report in AFP, police estimated that the stolen items were worth between 500,000 and one million euros ($580,000 and $1.2 million). In response to the incident, police have opened an investigation into kidnapping, organised crime and armed extortion.
Similarly, in a separate incident on Wednesday, several individuals blew up a cash transfer safe belonging to the main post office of Roubaix and escaped with the bag that was inside it. It later came to light that the bag was empty. However, following the incident, 6 people were arrested that evening.
Louvre Museum heist in Paris
The heists come after a gang raided the Louvre museum in Paris in broad daylight last month, where a gang made off with jewellery worth roughly $102 million. After the incident, one suspect was detained at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport while attempting to fly to Algeria, and the second was later picked up elsewhere in the Paris region.
Both suspects, reportedly in their 30s and already known to French authorities, are linked to the bold 19 October theft at the Louvre — home to iconic works such as the Mona Lisa.
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Using a crane, the thieves smashed an upper-floor window during visiting hours, seized eight jewellery pieces from the Galerie d’Apollon, and fled on motorbikes. The entire operation lasted barely seven minutes, triggering a nationwide manhunt.
As per the French culture ministry, a tiara and brooch, once belonged to Empress Eugenie, an emerald necklace and earrings of Empress Marie Louise, a tiara, necklace, and single earring from the sapphire set were earlier owned by Queen Hortense and Queen Marie-Amelie and a brooch known as the "reliquary brooch".
