( CNN ) -- The robbers , police say , were `` well informed '' and had carefully chosen the time and place of their heist . As police officers were busy keeping an eye on areas popular with New Year revelers , four armed and masked robbers forced their way into an Apple store in central Paris and made off with as much as $ 1.3 million worth of iPhones , iPads and other devices . The robbers entered through a service entrance into the store , which had closed for the day , using violence to intimidate store employees , said Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre , a spokeswoman for the Paris prosecutors office . They then `` calmly '' went through boxes full of Apple products in the basement storeroom , seeking out iPhones , iPads and laptops , said Christophe Crepin , spokesman for UNSA Police , a national police trade union . Read more : Is Apple starting to lose its bite ? `` They knew exactly what they were taking , '' he said , noting that the robbery focused on the merchandise in the storeroom and left the devices on display inside the store untouched . They loaded the stolen goods , estimated to have a retail value of around one million euros ( $ 1.3 million ) , into a Mercedes van parked nearby and sped off , he said . Thibault-Lecuivre declined to confirm the value of the robbers ' haul , saying that Apple managers were still working out how much had been taken . Housed in an elegant Haussmann-style building in a popular shopping district , the store Apple Store at Opera is one of two in central Paris . The other is in an underground mall connected to the Louvre . Read more : Tech trends for 2013 : Five things to watch .
The theft takes place as police are busy supervising New Year celebrations . The armed robbers force their way in and seek out iPhones and iPads . ` ` They knew exactly what they were taking , '' a trade union official says . The masked men assaulted store employees during the robbery .