Thieves ramraid Chanel shop near Paris's Champs Elysées

A Chanel shop near Paris's swish Champs Elysées avenue was ramraided early on Thursday morning. The thieves made off with several handbags, police said without giving an estimate of the value of the haul.

The vehicle used to ram the Chanel shop is moved Reuters/Christian Hartmann

Three people drive a four-wheel-drive vehicle into the window of the luxury brand's shop on Paris's Avenue Montaigne, in the heart of the upmarket neighbourhood around the Champs Elysées, at about 5.30am on Wednesday, a police source told the AFP new agency.

"They grabbed several handbags before making off on motor scooters," another source said.

They also set light to the car, damaging the shopfront and several vehicles parked nearby.

Champs Elysées no stranger to luxury crime

Despite, or because, of its upper-class reputation, the area is no stranger to crime.

A gang accused of stealing expensive watches from revellers coming out of restaurants there went to court in 2015.

Gang warfare over control of slot machines in the area was blamed for the murder of Francis Vanderberghe, known as "Francis the Belgian", in a shooting in a café near the Champs Elysées in 2000.