CANNES: An armed man stole jewels with an estimated value of ¤40m ($53m) in a brazen heist in broad daylight at a diamond exhibition in the French Riviera resort of Cannes yesterday, investigators said.
The hold-up, at the Carlton Hotel on the promenade in Cannes, famous for its annual film festival, would be the second largest ever in France if the value of the jewels is confirmed.
Authorities said the robbery took place around 11:30am local time and targeted an exhibition entitled “Extraordinary Diamonds” by the Leviev jewellery house.
However, prosecutors later said the figure of ¤40M should be treated with caution.
“The estimate of ¤40M is not confirmed. It was given out in the beginning but an inventory is in progress. It’s a preliminary estimate. It is not reliable,” prosecutors from the nearby town of Grasse said.
According to prosecutors, the gunman was wearing a “bandana or scarf” and a cap and was brandishing an automatic weapon.
He escaped with several satchels of jewels as well as diamond-encrusted watches, the prosecutors’ office added.
“Everything happened very quickly and without violence,” the prosecutors said.
Police detectives from the nearby city of Nice were at the hotel and traffic had been stopped near the scene of the heist.
The management at the five-star Carlton Hotel declined to comment, saying they had “instructions not to say anything.”
The Carlton was the location for Alfred Hitchcock’s 1955 Oscar-winning thriller To Catch A Thief, starring Cary Grant and Grace Kelly.
The diamond heist was one of the largest in recent years in France.
In the country’s biggest ever robbery, which took place in 2008, three men stole almost every piece on display at a jewellery exhibition in Paris with an estimated value of ¤85m
Cannes has fallen prey to thieves several times recently, notably during this year’s film festival, which attracts a glittering array of celebrities from the movie world.
In a pre-dawn heist at a hotel during the festival in May, thieves stole jewellery worth $1.4m due to be loaned to movie stars.
That robbery took place in the hotel room of an American employee of Swiss jeweller Chopard while she was out for the evening, police said.
In a scene straight from a Hollywood film, a strongbox containing jewels was ripped out of the wardrobe and carried off, they said.
In a second theft during the festival, robbers made off with a diamond necklace with an estimated value of $1.9m.
The world’s biggest diamond theft occurred in February 2003 in the northern Belgian city of Antwerp, when robbers got away with jewels worth an estimated ¤100m. AFP
