50 years since Nice's "heist of the century"

In July 1976, a gang led by Albert Spaggiari broke into the Société Générale bank in central Nice by tunnelling through the city's sewer network.

The thieves spent more than 50 hours inside the bank's vault over the Bastille Day weekend, opening 371 safety deposit boxes and making off with an estimated 40 to 50 million francs in cash, gold and jewellery.

The gang had spent almost three months digging a tunnel beneath the city before breaking through a 1.8-metre-thick concrete wall to reach the vault.

They escaped undetected through the sewers before bank staff returned to work, leaving behind the now-famous message: "Without hatred, without violence and without weapons."

Police later arrested Albert Spaggiari, who denied being the mastermind.

In 1977, he made headlines around the world by escaping from a judge's office in Nice, diving from a window onto a waiting motorbike.

He fled to Italy and later lived in South America, remaining a fugitive until his death in 1989.

More than a dozen members of the gang were eventually convicted, although much of the stolen money and jewellery was never recovered.

The daring robbery remains one of France's most legendary criminal cases and is still known as the "Heist of the Century."