Armed gang steals hundreds of thousands of euros in goods from Paris De Beers store

The raid on Rue de la Paix

Four armed men entered the De Beers store on Rue de la Paix, close to Place Vendôme in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris, at around 11:15 local time on 12 November 2026. Police said the men displayed their rifles but did not fire them. Within minutes they had taken luxury goods and left on motorcycles. The shop sits in a district packed with luxury jewellers and lies less than 300 metres from the French Ministry of Justice, according to Czech and Greek reports. Paris prosecutors opened a flagrante investigation into armed robbery by an organised gang, and officers of the Brigade de répression du banditisme (BRB) are leading the inquiry.

Accounts from the scene

Fabien Bogais, a representative of the Alliance police union in Paris, spoke to reporters at the scene and said the raiders needed only minutes to take the goods. Bogais said the men wore helmets and that he could not tell whether their faces were concealed by clothing or balaclavas. An anonymous witness told BFMTV that a hooded man dressed in black was holding a Kalashnikov-type rifle while three others went inside, and that the witness ran away, afraid. A second anonymous witness said the attack lasted ten to fifteen seconds and reported calling police at 11:17, with officers arriving about 25 minutes later. The timeline below combines these accounts with the reported robbery time.

The store, the police and the value of the haul

De Beers confirmed the robbery through a spokesperson, who said there were no serious injuries and that the company was providing well-being support. The store will stay closed while investigators work at the scene. Police said considerable resources were being deployed to find the robbers. Estimates of the haul differ: AP reported hundreds of thousands of euros, Le Parisien, as relayed by vrtnws, suggested it could approach 1 million euros, and Telegraaf, citing The Times, put it at one million dollars. The value was still being assessed at the time of reporting.

Background and the open case

The robbery comes after an October 2025 daylight heist at the Louvre, when crown jewels valued at 88 million euros were taken. AP reported that the Louvre case exposed gaps in the museum's security. As of the latest reports, none of the suspects had been arrested, and investigators are still searching for the four men. A report by The Times, carried by Telegraaf, said the gang came from Italy, but that claim is not established in the reporting so far.

Location and the diamond trade

Rue de la Paix runs near Place Vendôme, a hub of luxury jewellers, which is why the raid drew attention in the French capital. De Beers Group is a large diamond company that once held a monopoly on mining and trade. According to vrtnws, the multinational still holds around 35 percent market share in diamond trading. It operates diamond mines in several African countries and in Canada, and its headquarters are in South Africa.