A convoy of cars belonging to a Saudi prince has been attacked by gunmen in Paris, France.
The heavily armed men stole 250,000 euros ($330,000), police say.
The convoy was heading through northern Paris on its way to Le Bourget airport late on Sunday evening when it was raided, reports say.
The gunmen seized a vehicle carrying the money and documents, later releasing the driver and two others.
The convoy was said to have come from the Saudi embassy. No-one was hurt.
The gunmen, reportedly armed with Kalashnikov rifles, targeted a Mercedes mini-van at 21:15 local time on the northern ring road, or peripherique, at Porte de la Chapelle, on the edge of Paris.
The motorcade, belonging to a Saudi prince, was ambushed by eight people in two separate vehicles who pointed their guns at the driver of the Mercedes, forcing him to stop, French media reported.
The Saudi prince’s convoy was heading through northern Paris on its way to Le Bourget airport late on Sunday evening when it was raided
The men then drove the vehicle away with the driver and the two other Saudis inside. No shots were fired and the Saudis were later freed.
“In the vehicle there was roughly 250,000 euros in cash and official documents from the embassy,” police union spokesman Rocco Contento told BFM TV news.
According to Rocco Contento, the operation lasted just a few seconds, something that pointed to “a very organized and especially informed commando unit, who had information and accomplices”.
“As far as I am concerned, it looks very much like it could be commandos from eastern Europe, who we know about, who are often paid to do dirty work.”
The Mercedes was heading to Le Bourget airport with paperwork for the departing prince, who has not been named, according to the prosecutor’s office. Le Bourget is often used for high-level visitors taking private jets to Paris.
The vehicle was eventually found abandoned and another of the gang’s cars was found burned out.
Armed robbers have made off with a “gigantic” haul of diamonds after a rapid raid at Brussels Airport.
They broke through a fence on Monday evening and stole gems which could be worth 50 million euros ($67 million), as they were being loaded from a Brinks security van onto a Swiss-bound plane.
They escaped back through the same hole. Police later found a burned-out vehicle close to the airport.
Police are looking for eight men, a prosecutors’ spokeswoman said.
Caroline De Wolf, of the Antwerp World Diamond Centre, estimated the haul at 50 million euros, saying: “What we are talking about is obviously a gigantic sum.”
AFP quoted an unnamed spokeswoman at the same Antwerp centre calling the robbery “one of the biggest” ever.
She said that the diamonds were “rough stones” being transported from Antwerp to Zurich.
Armed robbers have made off with a “gigantic” haul of diamonds after a rapid raid at Brussels Airport
Antwerp is the hub of the world diamond trade – about 150 million euros’ worth of stones move in and out of the city every day, the spokeswoman added.
Brussels prosecutor’s spokeswoman Anja Bijnens said the thieves were masked and well armed, but no shots were fired and no-one was hurt in the raid.
They used two vehicles, the raid was over in a matter of minutes, and they made off into the night.
An airport spokesman, Jan Van Der Crujsse, said the robbers made a hole in the perimeter fence and drove up next to the Swiss passenger plane that was preparing to leave.
Mark Headstrong, a clerk at a convenience store in Wilmington, North Carolina, had never fired a gun before, but, when a robber pointed a pistol at him, he acted fast and shot his assailant twice.
Surveillance video captures the moment Mark Headstrong pulled out his weapon and fired, dropping 30-year-old Joseph Ryan Anderson to the floor with bullet wounds to his leg and his finger.
But Mark Headstrong’s boss, store owner Musa Agil said his employee should have shot the robber dead: “He should have killed him and this guy was soft on him.”
“He was trying to give him a second chance. Thugs like those should not ever be given a chance, because if that man shot Mark, he’s not going to look at him and give him a chance. That’s why Mark made a terrible mistake by letting him go,” Musa Agil told WWAY news in Wilmington.
Surveillance video captures the moment Mark Headstrong pulled out his weapon and fired, dropping 30-year-old Joseph Ryan Anderson to the floor with bullet wounds to his leg and his finger
This wasn’t the first robbery for either thug or clerk. Joseph Ryan Anderson was convicted of armed robbery in 2002. He has served more than 12 and half years in prison for various crimes.
Mark Headstrong has been robbed twice in the year he’s worked at the Wrightsville Country Store. In the first robbery, he resisted and was bashed in the head. The second time, he gave up the cash drawer without protest.
The in-store cameras show Joseph Ryan Anderson walk into the store wearing a mask and black hood pulled over his head. He draws a gun and points it at Mark Headstrong.
The clerk draws his own handgun. Mark Headstrong, a soft-spoken man, told the Star News of Wilmington that he instructed Joseph Ryan Anderson to drop the gun. But the convicted felon didn’t. Instead, he steps closer to the counter, so Mark Headstrong fired a warning shot into the floor.
The bullet ricocheted and struck Joseph Ryan Anderson in the leg. But the robber still didn’t drop the gun. So, Mark Headstrong, wearing shorts and flip-flops, shoots again, hitting the assailant in the finger.
The robber finally lets go of his silver handgun and falls to the floor.
“I’m sorry, you shot me, man. Please. I’m not going to go nowhere, please,” Joseph Ryan Anderson says as he lay on the floor.
Then the robber starts to plead: “Please, man. Please. Let me go, man.”
An ambulance took Joseph Ryan Anderson to the hospital, where he was treated for the wounds. As soon as he was well enough, police arrested him and charged him with attempted armed robbery and possession of a firearm by a felon.
“You’ll be hailed as a hero,” Musa Agil told his employee during a news conference.
“But you’d be a superhero if you’d dropped him dead.”
Indeed, Mark Headstrong told ABC News his story has inspired waves of new customers at the store, many of whom want to shake his hand and congratulate him for standing up to an armed thug. Some even give him autographs.
But Mark Headstrong isn’t so sure about his new-found fame. He said he is concerned about Joseph Ryan Anderson’s recover and is unsure he wants to stay at the convenience store.
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