A lone gunman robbed a chic Paris jewellery store in broad daylight yesterday, walking out of the Chopard shop on Place Vendome with up to €6.5 million of goods, police said.
Dressed in a suit and wearing a fedora, the man entered the prestigious boutique, pulled out a gun and forced staff to hand over some 15 pieces of jewellery, police said.
"According to the first set of information we received, it was a man in his fifties, dressed in a chic costume and wearing a Borsalino (fedora) hat," said Olivier Lebon, a police union representative.
"He came in like any other customer, pointed his gun at employees and asked for about fifteen pieces." Mr Lebon said the robbery took two minutes and estimated the loot was worth between €6 and €6.5 million.
Based in Switzerland, Chopard is known for adorning movie stars strutting on red carpets at high-profile events such as the Cannes film festival or Hollywood's Academy Awards.
Police have noted a marked increase in robberies in recent years.
The heist, which took place in the early afternoon, came after a gang of armed men stole gems worth €85 million from jewellers Harry Winston in Paris in December, a robbery described by the media as one of the biggest in recent history.
The Harry Winston raid came almost a year to the day after the same store was attacked by robbers who forced staff to empty its safes, taking at least $16 million worth of jewels.
Earlier this month, two key members of the "Pink Panthers" international gang of jewels thieves were arrested in Paris, Interpol said.
The "Pink Panthers" have accumulated loot worth up to $200 million in an estimated 120 attacks on luxury stores in some 20 countries since their first robbery in London's chic Mayfair district in 2003.