New Year Eve partying ... robbery at Apple store at Champs Elysees

It dawned as normally as it would on any other day ~ yet New Year cast trouble for some, due to hooligan activities to some youngsters.  Every year there gets reported road accidents, especially of young persons on 2 wheelers, driving mad after drinking.  Last year, a 27 year old youth was found with cut injury in neck having crashed into the road median in his bike.  Here is a photo from The Hindu depicting the hooligans smashing a car that came their way in the early hours of the New Year….

Again, I am not against celebrating ~ but certainly against the ‘binge’ – the way of celebrations.  Elsewhere, some criminals chose to celebrate the New Year Eve differently !  In between, Bars are places where people drink and enjoy ~ heard of ‘Genius Bar’?

Champs- Elysees ~ the Avenue des Champs-Élysées is a street in Paris, France. With its cinemas, cafés, luxury specialty shops and clipped horse-chestnut trees, the Champs-Élysées is arguably the most famous street—and one of the most expensive strips of real estate—in the world. There reportedly are several French monuments  on the street in a place described as ‘most beautiful avenue of the World’.  The avenue runs for 1.91 km (1.18 mi) ~ it is not in news for its length nor for its beauty.

On New Year’s Eve, whilst most of the world was out enjoying festivities to usher in 2013, a band of armed robbers invaded the Apple store in central Paris.  The store reportedly was closed and hence none injured ~ reports indicate that robbers nabbed over $1,000,000 worth of items. Newspaper reports suggest that the robbery was performed by four robbers, who wore masks and wielded handguns. They managed to enter via a secondary entrance when the janitor left for the night at around 9pm, causing the janitor minor injuries in the process. Once inside, they jumped the security guard and ransacked the place, taking boxes of items over the course of approximately 40 minutes. Once finished, they jumped in a van and left.

The Apple Store is a chain of retail stores owned and operated by Apple Inc., dealing in computers and consumer electronics. The stores sell Macintosh personal computers, software, iPods, iPads, iPhones, third-party accessories, and other consumer electronics such as Apple TV.  The Genius Bar [is not a partying location] but a tech support station located inside every Apple Retail Store, the purpose of which is to offer help and support for Apple products. Employees are specially trained and certified at the Genius Bar. Their role is to help customers with Apple hardware and software.

an apple store at amsterdam [photo depiction - not the location of loss]

As likely to happen in any burglary, there is no official confirmation of the numbers taken away and how much it all was worth; current numbers being tossed around are estimates, and won’t be finalized until after an inventory review is performed.   Telegraph quoting an unnamed law enforcement source  stated that  “A police presence is put in place every New Year’s near the Eiffel Tower, Trocadero and Champs-Elyséees, but that doesn’t intervene at all with the regular security on duty in other parts of Paris.”

So loss for Apple and their Insurers as armed robbers partied in the store in Central Paris on New Year’s Eve, reportedly walking away with about 1 million euros (($1.32 million) of loot.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

2^nd Jan 2012.