Gunmen stick up Saudi prince in Paris, seize $335,000 and diplomatic documents

The police said Monday that eight armed men attacked a Saudi Arabian prince’s convoy around 9 p.m. on Sunday as it was heading from the Saudi Embassy to Le Bourget airport north of Paris, where captains of industry and visiting royalty to the French capital park their private jets.

The thieves held up a Mercedes minivan at the front of the convoy, the police said, before speeding away with a suitcase containing 250,000 euros — about $335,000 — in cash and, according to French media reports, official documents from the embassy.

The robbery took place near Porte de la Chapelle, the police said, and the French media reported that the thieves took control of the Mercedes, eventually releasing the driver, an official, and a bodyguard on the side of the road. The car was later found abandoned and burned, the French daily Le Monde reported. [The New York Times]