Thieves in northern France have made off with jewellery worth up to $1.2 million, police said on Saturday.

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The burglars reportedly broke into a jewellery boutique in central Roubaix, near Lille, on Wednesday, and briefly took the jeweller and his wife hostage before making off with the valuables.

The jewels were worth “between €500,000 and €1 million” ($580,000 and $1.2 million), police said.

They have launched an investigation into kidnapping, organised crime, and armed extortion.

In a separate incident earlier on Wednesday, several individuals blew up a cash transfer safe at Roubaix’s main post office and escaped with the bag inside.

It later transpired that the bag contained nothing other than more empty bags.

Six people were arrested that evening.

The heists come after a gang raided the Louvre museum in Paris in broad daylight last month, stealing jewellery worth an estimated $102 million.

AFP