Armed Robbers Steal Millions in Jewels From Piaget’s Paris Flagship Store in a Daytime Heist
August has not gotten off to the sort of start Piaget may have been hoping for.
A group of armed thieves robbed the Swiss watchmaker and jeweler’s Parisian flagship store on Tuesday afternoon, according to The Times of London. The “elegantly dressed” crooks are said to have made off with up to $16.5 million.
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The robbery took place at 1 p.m. local time at the Richemont-owned brand’s boutique on the Rue de la Paix, a fashionable street in the Second Arrondissement that is home to several other high-end jewelers. Just after lunchtime, a woman dressed in a green dress and two men wearing grey suits entered the store and threatened the staff with a handgun, according to authorities. One employee was then forced to open the store display cases, while the rest of the staff were made to lie on the floor at the back of the establishment.
Once the cases had been emptied of an estimated €10 million to €15 million ($11 million to $16.5 million) worth of jewelry, the trio left the store on foot. It’s unclear what happened after their exit, but police believe there may have been motorcycles waiting for them nearby. Fortunately, no shots were fired and no one was hurt during the robbery, which the British newspaper describes as having “gone off without a hitch.”
Piaget got its start as a watchmaker during the 1870s, but the house expanded to jewelry midway through the last century. Its pieces have been known to command more than six figures, like the diamond-studded Emperador Temple. A representative for the brand did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Robb Report on Tuesday.
This isn’t the first time a jeweler has been robbed in the second arrondissement recently, according to Agence France Presse. The nearby Bulgari store was robbed of millions worth of jewelry this spring. Last year, four armed thieves stole also stole millions worth of goods from a temporary Chanel store located on the same street.
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