 Place Vendome - Photo: AFP |
The pair raided the Chaumet store on Place Vendome, the French capital's most glamorous shopping address, after stealing an employee's handbag containing a security card to open a service door, investigators said.
Once inside, they brandished guns and demanded that employees empty safes in the two century-old establishment, known as a supplier of jewels and precious stones to top fashion designers and the royal houses of Europe.
A police official, speaking on condition of anonymity, described the robbery as "extremely audacious", unusual in its execution and apparently well planned by a gang well informed about the store's layout and security system.
A Chaumet manager confirmed the theft and said it would take some time to estimate the total value of the stones taken from the storage area as a full inventory would have to be taken.
In recent years France has seen several high-profile robberies in luxury jewellery stores, many of them thought to be carried out by a gang of thieves from the former Yugoslavia known as the "Pink Panthers".
The last hold-up in Place Vendome was in May of this year, when Chaumet's near neighbour Chopard lost 15 million euros worth of stock to armed robbers.