Confusion and mystery at 36 Quai des Orfèvres, the legendary headquarters of the Paris police.

The French capital has been rocked with the news that more than 50 kilograms of cocaine has gone missing from number 36. The street value is reckoned to be worth several million euros.

The heist would undoubtedly have outfoxed Jules Maigret the laconic pipe smoking fictional police ‘commissaire’ who cracked so many crimes from the address.

An investigation described by one police source as, “sensitive” is underway. The drug was stored in what was thought to be a secure vault.

Sniffer dogs have searched the HQ after the disappearance sometime on Thursday. To date no arrests and not a hint of where the cocaine could be.