Local paper La Provence reports a “gang of very well-informed thieves” blocked a tow truck which had just picked up a delivery of the new iPhone from the nearby airport.

The three thieves threatened the driver at gunpoint to drive to an isolated location in the industrial area to unload the stock, where they carefully took only the new handsets from the cargo before setting alight the rest.

Local authorities are still working out how much the batch of stolen iPhones is worth in total, but each phone has a market price of €679 to €899.