Three thieves have made off with a briefcase of jewels following a heist at Drouot, the world's oldest auction house.

Drouot is no stranger to scandal. Its porters were accused of stealing antiques in 2010

The attack, in which two auctioneers and two assistants were subjected to tear gas, took place outside the world famous building in Paris last night (19 February), with the men escaping with around $412,000 in jewels on a motorcycle.

Police followed the men into the suburbs, but the thieves escaped after hijacking a car.

This is not the first such trouble the auction house has faced. A group of Alpine villagers known as the Savoyards, who formed the Union des Commissionaires de l'Hôtel des ventes and monopolised the auction house's portering duties, were accused of being an organised crime gang responsible for stealing antiques and works of art in 2010.

In August 2013, two major heists were carried out in Cannes, with the Carlton International Hotel - the setting for Hitchcock's To Catch a Thief - seeing $136m in jewels stolen, before the Kronometry store was hit with its second robbery in five months.

See our top 10 jewellery heists for the most daring raids in history.

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