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France jewel heist: 15 armed men hijack vans and steal gems worth £6.4m France jewel heist: 15 armed men hijack vans and steal gems worth £6.4m
(about 1 hour later)
Up to fifteen armed men have attacked two security vans and stolen diamonds, jewels and artwork worth millions of euros at a motorway toll booth in France, police have said. An armed and masked gang of 15 pulled off a spectacular jewel robbery at a motorway toll station 120 miles south of Paris last night.
A manhunt has been launched in the Yonne region in Burgundy, 220km (140 miles) south east of Paris, and surrounding areas for the attackers. The raiders hijacked two armoured security vans at gunpoint and escaped with an estimated £6.4m in jewels, diamonds and art works.
The vans were found burned in a forest close to the site of the attack on the A6 highway connecting Paris and Lyon, according to the Associated Press. Sources say the jewels were worth an estimated €9million (£6.4m). The security vans were later found abandoned and burned in woodland near the scene of the robbery on the main A6 north-south motorway in northern Burgundy.
The raiders reportedly waited for the security vans, which were transporting the valuable goods between Paris and Besancon, the BBC reports. The robbery is the latest in a series of large jewel raids and attacks on security vans in France in recent years.
No one was injured in the attack and the drivers of the two vans, who were ejected by the raiders, were left at the scene unharmed. Eight people were convicted last month of taking part in the £49m raid on the Harry Winston jewelry shop in Paris in 2008.
The drivers fled in vehicles towards Paris. No one was injured in last night’s raid, which took place just before midnight. The security vans were intercepted as they slowed to pay tolls near Avallon. They were travelling south from Paris to Besancon on the French-Swiss border.
Hundreds of police and gendarmerie officers were drafted into the area today to try to pick up the raiders’ trail. Police helicopters were criss-crossing the heavily wooded area near the Chablis vineyards..
Police said that the 15 raiders, who were heavily armed and wearing hoods or balaclavas, escaped in four high-powered cars. There have been half a dozen highly-organised attacks on security vans in France in each of the last three years.