An armed robber stole millions of dollars worth of jewels at a hotel in Cannes,
officials said.
According to the BBC, the theft took place on Sunday at the jewelry exhibition Carlton
hotel. The stolen gems are worth around $53 million,
the AFP reported.
Sky News
also confirmed the incident.
According to The Independent, the heist took place in broad daylight.
Local news media said the thief escaped with the stolen jewels in a briefcase.
This is the
third major jewel heist this year to take place
at Cannes, the site of one of the world's most prestigious film
festivals. During festival in May,
$1.4 million of gems were stolen from a Swiss jeweler.
Later in the week, a diamond necklace worth $2.6 million was taken.
Oddly enough, the Carlton hotel is one of the major locations in
'To Catch A Thief'-- the classic Hitchcock film about a retired jewel thief.
Here's more on Sunday's heist,
from the AP:
PARIS
— A staggering 40 million euro ($53 million) worth of diamonds and
other jewels were stolen Sunday from the Carlton Intercontinental
hotel in Cannes, in one of Europe's biggest jewelry heists in recent years, police said. One expert noted the
crime follows recent jail escapes by members of the notorious "Pink Panther" jewel thief gang.
The hotel in the sweltering French Riviera was hosting a temporary
jewelry exhibit over the summer from the prestigious Leviev diamond
house, which is owned by Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev.
A police spokesman said the theft took place around noon, but he could not confirm local media reports that the robber was a
single
gunman who stuffed a suitcase with the gems before making a swift exit.
The spokesman spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not
authorized to discuss the matter on the record.
The luxury Carlton hotel is situated on the exclusive Promenade de la
Croisette that stretches a mile and a half along the French Riviera,
and is thronged by the rich and famous throughout the year. The hotel's
position provides not only a beautiful view of the sea but also an easy
getaway for potential jewel thieves along the long stretch of road.
"It's a huge theft. Anytime you talk about a heist with many millions
of dollars it turns heads and feeds the imagination," said Jonathan
Sazonoff, U.S. editor for the Museum
Security Network website and an authority on high-value crime.
He said the likelihood of recovering the stolen diamonds and jewels
is slim, because thieves can easily sell them on. "The fear is, if
you're dealing with high quality minerals, it's hard to get them back,"
Sazonoff said. "They can be broken up and so they can be easily smuggled
and sold."
The valuable gems were supposed to be on public display until the end
of August. It was not immediately clear how many pieces were stolen.
Several police officers were placed in front of the Carlton exhibition
room – near a Cartier diamond boutique – to prevent the dozens of
journalists and photographers from getting a look in at the scene of
the crime.
Hotel officials would not comment, and attempts to reach Leviev or his company were not immediately successful.
Europe has been struck by several brazen jewelry thefts in recent
years, some of which have involved tens of millions of dollars in
treasure.
On Feb. 18 in Belgium, some $50 million worth of diamonds were stolen.
In that heist, the stones from the global diamond center of Antwerp
had been loaded on a plane headed to Zurich when robbers dressed in dark
police clothing and hoods drove through a hole they'd cut in the
Brussels Airport fence in two black cars with blue police lights
flashing. They drove onto the tarmac, approached the plane, brandished
machine guns, offloaded the diamonds, then left in an operation that
took barely five minutes.
Authorities have since detained dozens of people and recovered much of the stolen treasure in that operation.
Five years ago, in December 2008, armed robbers wearing women's wigs
and clothing made off with diamond rings, gem-studded bracelets and
other jewelry said then to be worth $108 million from a Harry Winston
boutique in Paris.
As Christmas shoppers strolled outside, the gunmen forced store
employees to strip rings, necklaces and earrings from window displays
and pull more out of safes – a brazen robbery that took place in the
presence of security guards and security cameras in one of Paris'
toniest shopping locales.
Also in 2008 – in February of that year – in a scene reminiscent of
the movie "The Italian Job," masked thieves drilled a tunnel into a
Damiani jewelry company showroom in Milan, Italy. They tied up the staff
with plastic cable and sticky tape, then made off with gold, diamonds
and rubies worth some $20 million. The robbers had been digging for
several weeks from a building under construction next door.
Cannes appears to be the favorite target this year – in May it was
struck by other two highly publicized jewelry heists during the Cannes
Film Festival.
In the first theft, robbers stole about $1 million worth of jewels
after ripping a safe from the wall of a hotel room. The jewelry was
taken from the Novotel room of an employee of Chopard, the Swiss-based
watch and jewelry maker that has loaned bling to A-list stars walking
the red carpet at the film festival.
In the second, thieves outsmarted 80 security guards in an exclusive
hotel and grabbed a De Grisogono necklace that creators say is worth 2
million euros ($2.6 million.)
Sazonoff said it's normal for robbers to gravitate to a place like
Cannes, whose glimmering harbor and glamorous film festival attract the
world's rich and famous. "Why do thieves target Cannes? It's simple ...
On the Cote d'Azur, it's where the monied people flow," he said.
Sazonoff also said police would likely probe whether Sunday's heist
is linked to recent jail escapes by alleged members of the Pink Panther
jewel thief gang.
On Thursday, a member of the gang escaped prison after accomplices
rammed a gate and overpowered guards with bursts from their AK-47s,
police said. Milan Poparic fled with fellow inmate Adrian Albrecht from
the Orbe prison in the western Swiss state of Vaud.
Police say the Pink Panthers network's members are prime suspects in a
series of daring thefts. According to Interpol, the group has targeted
luxury watch and jewelry stores in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the
United States, netting more than (EURO)330 million (>285m) since
1999.
Poparic is the third member of the Pink Panthers to escape from a Swiss prison in as many months, according to Vaud police.
"The brazen drama of it is their style... The possibility of the
reemergence of the Pink Panther gang is very troubling and taken
seriously by law enforcement worldwide," Sazonoff said. "The theft of
high value diamonds is exactly what they do, so it's not a great leap to
assume they are on the warpath again. They are a crime wave waiting to
happen."
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Thomas Adamson can be followed at Twitter.com/ThomasAdamsonAP
