Smash and grab: Thieves steal works worth €9m from Renoir Museum in France

A major manhunt is underway around the southern French Mediterranean resort of Cagnes-sur-Mer after thieves broke into the Renoir museum and stole four artworks but abandoned two during their escape. The town's mayor Brian Masson said that a group of well-equipped and well-informed thieves entered the building via the garden to pull off the robbery. Officials say they sliced through the fence with an electric knife or saw, entered the museum through the ground floor, and then cut the clips securing the artwork frames to their housing before escaping. According to Masson, the pair were spotted thanks to the town's video surveillance cameras. Initial reports estimate the stolen haul to be worth up to 9 million euros. Museum staff say two of the stolen artworks were found in the garden where the thieves were escaping from, but two other portraits are missing. The heist happened shortly before 6am local time, and police responded to the scene within five minutes. The Renoir museum was the final home to the great French artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir prior to his 1919 death. It's located between Cannes and Nice, and is the Mediterranean coastal town's most famous attraction.