PARIS, Frace — Axe-wielding robbers stole jewellery
on Wednesday possibly worth more than $5 million from a store in the
famed Ritz Paris hotel, police said.
Five thieves carried out the heist at the luxury hotel in late
afternoon. Three were arrested while two others got away. There were no
injuries.
“The loss is very high and remains to be assessed,” one police source
said. Another put the figure at 4.5 million euros (3.98 million
pounds), but said that a bag had been recovered possibly containing some
of the loot.
The hotel first opened in 1898 and was the first Paris hotel to boast
electricity on
all floors and bathrooms that were inside rooms.
The former home of fashion designer Coco Chanel and author Marcel
Proust, the Ritz was a favourite drinking hole of American writer Ernest
Hemingway. It was at the Ritz that Diana, Princess of Wales, spent her
last night in 1997 before the car crash that killed her and her lover
Dodi Fayed, son of the hotel’s owner Mohammed al-Fayed.
Armed heists targeting jewellery stores are not uncommon in the ultra
chic avenues near Place Vendome square in central Paris where the Ritz
is located.
