French Police Recover Stolen Champagne Worth Rs 5.3 Crore After High-Speed Chase

Thieves stole two truckloads of champagne worth Rs 5.3 crore and led police on a high-speed chase. The incident unfolded on Saturday near Reims, situated in the heart of the Champagne region, where the lorries were reported stolen, BBC reported. 

Officers were able to successfully locate the trucks, equipped with tracking devices, and initiated a chase on the A4 motorway between Reims and Paris.

While the stolen champagne was eventually recovered by the police, the perpetrators managed to escape.

According to French media, the lorries were stolen from a Reims-based company on Saturday morning. The two trailers contained high-end champagne by Moet & Chandon. 

A high-speed pursuit followed, during which the drivers jumped from their 38-ton vehicles and successfully evaded capture.

The trucks were traced on the A4 near Pontault-Combault, approximately 20km from central Paris, in the early hours of Saturday, BBC reported. 

Two police cars participated in the pursuit, during which the thieves attempted to lose them by making sudden swerves. When law enforcement compelled one of the trucks to slow down, the driver leapt off and was swiftly picked up by a sedan trailing the convoy. The car rapidly sped away.

The second truck took the subsequent exit and was later discovered without its driver. An investigation is currently underway.

All the champagne bottles were successfully recovered intact and undamaged, albeit slightly shaken.