Paris Police Arrest Three E. Europeans After Jewelry Raid

(IDEX Online News) – Paris police have arrested three men from Eastern European countries in connection with a raid on a luxury watch store in the center of the city last Friday, sources close to the investigation said.

The heist saw a large gang of 15 robbers, some carrying axes and sledgehammers, attack the Vacheron Constantin store near the fashionable Place Vendome in the middle of the day and flee with items worth hundreds of thousands of euros.

Paris police moved quickly to make the arrests the following day. Meanwhile, two men, aged 17 and 24, one from Moldova and one from Romania, were also taken into custody.

Investigators are reportedly working on whether the three men arrested on Saturday were directly involved in the theft, or had links with the culprits.

They were not carrying identity papers, but were from Eastern Europe, said the source, adding that French investigators were working "in cooperation with Romanian police", according to AFP.

Police said Friday the goods stolen were "of a very significant amount."

France has been struck by a series of high-profile jewelry heists this year, including several in the Riviera resort of Cannes.

In the biggest raid, robbers made off with more than $130 million of exclusive jewelry in Cannes. And last week, four men rammed their car into a jewelry store near Place Vendome, fleeing with $2.6 million of jewelry.