Gossip: Armed men steal jewellery worth £35milllion

Two armed men today stole more than £35million worth of jewellery from an exhibition at the most glamorous hotel in Cannes.


They burst into the Carlton, which is on the seafront in French Riviera resort, shortly after midday and took a briefcase packed with hugely expensive pieces.

One of the men is said to have brandished a handgun at exhibition security staff in a private room at the hotel before fleeing on foot, according to Cannes police.

A Cannes police spokesman said: 'A full an urgent operation is underway to catch the culprit and recover these jewels. Thieves see Cannes as rich pickings.'

The temporary exhibition at the Carlton was being organised by Leviev, a specialist diamond firm which firm started trading in London’s Old Bond Street in 2006.[related]

The company is owned by  Lev Leviev, a London based Russian-Israeli billionaire, who had diamond investments all over the world, including Angolan mines.

Leviev is a prominent supporter of Israeli settlements in the Palestinian Occupied territories, and a close ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin. Leviev is now permanently based in Hampstead, north west London.

Jewellery stores that line Cannes's seafront Croisette boulevard are regularly targeted by armed robbers.

In May, items worth £1million were taken from a hotel safe during the Cannes Film Festival.

An unnamed American woman working for Chopard, the Swiss jeweller and festival sponsor, was keeping the items in her second-floor room at the Cannes Novotel.

Chopard had 40 staff at Cannes whose job it was to persuade stars to wear its products. Julianne Moore, Cindy Crawford and Cara Delevingne were all seen wearing Chopard pieces this year.

A few days later a necklace worth £1.6million vanished after a Cannes Film Festival celebrity party at a five-star hotel in the neighbouring resort town of Cap d'Antibes.

The theft occurred at the exclusive Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc despite state-of-the-art security measures, including 80 guards, said Swiss jeweller De Grisogono.

Organised gangs frequently targeting boutiques and hotels around Cannes. Many of the raids turn out to be inside jobs, with staff helping the thieves to locate and then steal items.

The Carlton Hotel is a favourite of numerous film stars and other celebrities around the world, and is considered the ‘celebrity HQ’ during the film festival.

Source: Daily Mail