Glistening gems, dazzling diamonds, and stunning jewelry may surround the owner of a jewelry store all day long, but also the fear that it could all be stolen. Last week, a posh London jewelry shop was robbed of $5.7 million by a woman who swapped the gemstones with garden pebbles. In a similar, unfortunate event, famed Parisian jeweler Chaumet was the target of an audacious evening heist.
Un braquage très important à proximité des #ChampsElysees vient de se produire dans la bijouterie Chaumet.
Le montant du butin du braquage serait de 2 millions d’euros ! Le braqueur était en trottinette. pic.twitter.com/KZhmtYyy0p
— Remy Buisine (@RemyBuisine) July 27, 2021
An armed man with a stand-up getaway scooter stole almost $2.37 million worth of jewelry and precious stones after bursting into the shop near Champs-Elysees avenue around 5 pm on Tuesday. As per reports by Le Parisien, the man was unaccompanied and used his weapons to threaten the staff to hand over the jewels to him. What was funny, though, was how he looted and scared staff members, only to hop on a stand-up scooter and flee the scene.
As we know, Chaumet is an iconic luxury Parisian jewelry brand since 1780. The store near Champs-Elysees is a temple of high fashion ornaments that people adorn in importance at events like the Met Gala. While a robbery can occur at a place known for its jewels, one certainly doesn’t expect the robber to ride off on an electronic scooter. An investigating source shared, “He arrived on an e-scooter with a gun, went into the Chaumet store in Rue Francois I to threaten staff, and came out with a collection of jewels and watches. Nobody was hurt in the raid, and he simply disappeared on his scooter, with no one able to catch him.”
Police questioned potential witnesses at a nearby cafe, only to learn that they saw and heard nothing as they were busy ogling martial arts specialist Jean-Claude Van Damme at the nearby opticians. However, the French police arrested two suspects the very next day at a motorway rest area in the east of France. They were holding a chunk of the stolen goods in their possession. Prosecutors said that the two suspects were born in 1967 and 1977 without giving further details. A criminal investigation was opened.