Robber Takes Off With €3 Million In Gems During Paris Heist

CREDIT: wikiwand.com

An armed robbery has taken place in a jewellery store in Paris that witnesses have failed to see.

The suspect escaped on an e-scooter as witnesses were distracted by the visit of superstar Jean-Claude Van Damme.

The Hollywood actor and martial arts expert was in Paris shooting a new Netflix film that involves an e-scooter chase and takes place not far from where the robbery was.

The suspect in the robbery entered the building, boutique owned by famed Parisian jeweller Chaumet, wielding a handgun and ran off with €3 million gems and precious stones.

 CCTV footage showed the suspect with grey hair, wearing a light-grey suit, white shirt and tie, having arrived at the store around 5:10pm. Not long after, he was seen leaving with the collected stash in a white bag, and leaving on a green scooter that he had left outside.

Police were told by staff that the suspect pretended to be a customer, wanted to look at various expensive items, before he threatened them with the weapon.

Luckily, no one was hurt during the raid.

Jeanne d'Hauteserre, mayor of Paris's eighth arrondissement said the incident was "mind-boggling, daring, unprecedented and regrettable."

One police officer even called the incident "monumental."

There were potential witnesses in a cafe nearby but they had failed to notice anything. They were distracted by the presence of Jean-Claude Van Damme at a nearby optician's.

There is speculation that Jean-Claude Van Damme was a lookalike in order to deter any attention in another direction.

The superstar's Paris agent, Patrick Goavec has confirmed he was in the area at the time of the heist.

"He arrived yesterday from the US d is staying in a hotel nearby and he went to the opticians yesterday and returned today. I spoke to him five minutes ago and he had absolutely no idea about the robbery."

Jean-Claude Van Damme is currently filming a new Netflix movie called The Last Mercenary, where "a legendary secret agent-turned-mercenary comes out of hiding to save the son he has never met."

"The irony is it does include a chase on an e-scooter in central Paris," said Patrick.

Even without witnesses, Paris police were able to arrest two suspects in Moselle, Eastern France and had managed to retrieve "a significant amount" of the stash stolen.