50kg of cocaine missing from Paris police HQ

Paris - French authorities have ordered a probe after more than 50kg of seized cocaine worth millions of euros went missing from the Paris police headquarters.

The theft was discovered on Thursday and a probe was launched, the police said. The cocaine was seized in raids that took place in July and was stored in a secure room.

"If the investigation shows that the law has been broken, very firm measures will be immediately taken", the police said.

The revelations are a major embarrassment for the Paris criminal police, whose headquarters overlooking the Seine and located near the famed Notre Dame cathedral have been immortalised in several books and films.

The headquarters attracted unwelcome attention in April when two elite French police officers were charged with raping a Canadian tourist there in a case that has sent shock waves across France.

The 34-year-old woman said she was raped in the police headquarters at night. She met the officers during a night of heavy drinking at an Irish pub and agreed to follow them to their workplace.