$2.7m-worth luxury watches stolen from Paris Jewelry store

Armed-hooded robbers raided a luxury jewelry store in the heart of Paris on Friday and whisked away with a number of high-end watches worth over USD 2.7 million. Local media reported that about 15 men, some of them wielding axes and sledgehammers, burst into the Vacheron Constantin store near the posh Place Vendome, where several top-end jewelers are located, in the broad daylight. They smashed the shop windows and left with several watches with hefty price tags. Some accomplices outside the showroom, just meters away from France's justice ministry, used smoke grenades to allow those inside to make a speedy escape. France has been hit by a series of high-profile jewelry heists this year.