0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
Wearing a scarf to mask his face, the gunman sneaked into the posh Cannes hotel and held up a diamond show as three security guards looked on, then fled on foot about a minute later. In the end, he made off with a breathtaking $136 million worth of valuables - the biggest jewelry heist in years, maybe ever.It was a French Riviera robbery that might make Hollywood scriptwriters smile. And it even happened at a hotel that was featured in Alfred Hitchcock's jewel-encrusted thriller "To Catch a Thief."On Monday, a state prosecutor provided new details about the brazen heist a day earlier at the Carlton Intercontinental hotel - not least that the loot was actually worth more than twice the (EURO)40 million ($53 million) estimate that police had first announced.The noontime caper Sunday along the town's seaside promenade, La Croisette - a playground for the rich and famous, sunbathing tourists, and most notably, world cinema stars every year - looked set to dwarf the value of two other jewelry thefts in the Riviera during the Cannes Film Festival in May.It also could eclipse two other massive heists over the last decade. In 2008, thieves - some dressed as women - stole $118 million in rings, necklaces and luxury watches from the Harry Winston store in Paris. A robbery five years earlier at Belgium's Antwerp Diamond Center netted an estimated $100 million.Philippe Vique, assistant prosecutor in the nearby town of Grasse, said the show's Dubai-based organizer - whom he would not identify - had carried out a more complete inventory of the jewelry by Monday, and came up with the $136 million figure.
