Vacuum robbers sweep up gems haul

The attack was the latest in a series of daring raids

PARIS, France -- Thieves carrying out a series of jewellery raids in Paris now have a new weapon in their armoury -- a vacuum cleaner.

Four men entered a jewellery shop in a wealthy Paris district, smashed display cabinets, and then used a battery-operated, hand-held vacuum to clear up in seconds.

The men raced away from the scene of the crime on motorbikes.

"Using a vacuum cleaner, that was new. Thieves certainly don't lack innovation," said Patrick Mauduit, a spokesman for

police officers' union Synergie Officiers, told Reuters.

"We'll certainly see that again. It's clever. In one swipe they sucked up jewels that usually have to be picked by hand."

The attack was the latest in a spate of armed daylight robberies on jewellers and foreign-exchange offices in the French capital.

The raids have made national headlines as much for the thieves' barefaced cheek as for their increased frequency.