The audacious robbery was staged on the busy A1 highway near Le Bourget airport. The robbers were armed and used two cars equipped with flashing lights and the word "Police" on them.

They stopped the car the Saudi official was travelling in and demanded an inspection of the boot.

They then made off with a suitcase containing €162,000, $30,000 and £10,000. It was not immediately clear why the official was travelling with so much cash.

This isn't the first time in recent months that a foreign visitor has had a significant amount of cash stolen from them.

In March, The Local reported how 23 Chinese tourists travelling in a group were robbed soon after they arrived at Roissy Charles-de-Gaulle airport outside Paris.

The tourists were on a 12-day trip across Europe but it all went awry when they stopped for dinner at Le Bourget, to the north of Paris in the Seine-Saint-Denis area.

On leaving the restaurant they were attacked by three men.

"Their passports, plane tickets and cash were stolen and the group leader sustained an injury to the face," China's National Tourism Administration said at the time. 

According to the French daily Le Parisien the robbers made away with €7, 500 in cash.