Culprits of $100million Paris Jewelry heists imprisoned

PARIS, Feb. 28 (UPI) -- Eight men accused of twice robbing a jewelry store in France for millions of dollars in merchandise were handed varying prison sentences Saturday. The ringleader of the group, 50-year-old Douadi Yahiaoui, was sentenced to 15 years while others were given sentences as low as nine months.
The two heists on a Harry Winston jeweler in Paris netted the crew up to $100 million in merchandise. In 2007 the first heist was perpetrated by four men dressed as construction workers. The second came in 2008, with three of four robbers disguised in women's clothing and wigs.
Most of the stolen goods were never recovered, but in 2011 police discovered about $19 million worth of jewels from the 2008 heist stuffed down a drain in a Parisian suburb.
The Harry Winston incidents were only two in a series of jewelry heists in France throughout the years, including when $136 million worth of jewels were stolen from an exhibition in Cannes, France, in July 2013.

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