Post date: Mar 09, 2011 4:1:47 PM
French police recover from a rain sewer, jewels worth over 18 million euros, stolen from a Harry Winston store in Paris in 2008, according to French media
LES PAVILLONS-SOUS-BOIS, FRANCE (MARCH 9, 2011) M6 - French police recovered jewels worth about 18 million euros stolen during a 2008 burglary of a Harry Winston jewellery store located in an upmarket Paris neighbourhood, police said.
The gems were found in a rain sewer at a house in a Paris suburb, Seine Saint Denis on Tuesday (March 8).
According to French media reports, nineteen rings and three sets of earrings were uncovered from a plastic container set in a cement mould inside the sewer of the house.Neighbours said they had seen the occupants of the house but never interacted with them.
"There was a couple, there was a little girl. But we didn't talk to each other, there was no conviviality. We didn't know each other since long. We said hello that's all," one neighbour said.
Another neighbour said she saw police arriving next door.
"There were police cars, they came with axes, how do you call it, axes to break things next door," she said.
In December 2008, armed robbers stole millions of euros worth of gems in a raid on the luxury Harry Winston jewellers off the Champs Elysees.
Three men entered the shop and forced staff to hand over almost all the jewels on display before making their getaway.
The Harry Winston chain, long a favourite among the world's rich and famous, once provided jewels to the Shah of Iran for his wedding and to actor Richard Burton for his wife Elizabeth Taylor.