Thieves With Bats, Axes Raid Paris Museum

Four thieves carrying axes and baseball bats and wearing hoods and helmets entered a Paris museum after it opened on Wednesday, breaking into a display case and taking precious artifacts from one exhibit while visitors and employees watched. No one was injured, Le Monde reports. The crime occurred about 10:30am at the Cognacq-Jay museum in the tourist-filled Marais district. Prosecutors told AFP that the robbery was being investigated as the work of a criminal gang.

The items stolen were reported to be five historic boxes and snuffboxes that were part of the "Pocket Luxury" exhibition due to close Sunday. The museum's website says the exhibit displays "small, precious and sophisticated objects from the century of the Enlightenment" ranging from the 18th to the early 19th century. The value of the stolen items was not yet released. The exhibit included items on loan from the Louvre and Palace of Versailles in France and the UK's Royal Collection and Victoria and Albert Museum. City Hall praised the museum staff for showing "great professionalism" during the crime and said psychological support will be made available. (More Paris stories.)