10 held for armed raids on luxury Paris boutiques

Ten robbery suspects were arrested in Paris Monday over armed raids in recent months on luxury stores in the French capital, a police official said.

The suspects are being held in connection with the robbery of a Chanel boutique last month and one last December on Swiss luxury jewellery chain Chopard close to the presidential palace.

Police believe the armed raiders of the Chanel outlet got away with "many hundreds of thousands of euros (dollars)" worth of goods. The thieves launched a dawn raid, crashing a 4x4 into the store and stealing several handbags.

The targeted Chanel store is on the Avenue Montaigne, just minutes away from the Champs-Elysees and close to the presidential palace. The December attackers got away with a haul worth around a million euros (1.1 million US dollars) from the Chopard store.

In March two robbers armed with a gun and grenade stormed another branch of Chopard, just a stone's throw from the justice ministry. In 2014 there were several spectacular armed raids on the Place Vendome in which jewels worth between 420,000 and two million euros were seized. (AFP)

Photo: Champselysees-paris.com