Armed robber steals jewels worth millions in Cannes heist

A robber carrying an automatic pistol stole jewelry and watches worth a reported $53 million from the luxury Carlton Hotel in Cannes yesterday, police and judicial sources said.

A man wearing gloves, with his face hidden by a scarf, burst into the hotel in the late morning and demanded to be handed several bags containing jewels and diamond-encrusted watches.

"Everything happened very quickly," a judicial source said, adding that there was no violence.

The Carlton, located on the French Riviera resort's famed Croisette waterfront promenade, has been housing a temporary exhibition of jewels from diamond specialist Leviev since July 20.

The hotel, celebrating its centenary this year, was also where Alfred Hitchcock filmed scenes from the 1955 film "To Catch a Thief," starring Cary Grant as a onetime cat burglar and Grace Kelly as the beautiful Frances.

Nice-Matin newspaper said the stolen jewels were worth $53 million, a figure that the Carlton's management would not confirm yesterday. The prosecutor in Grasse, near Cannes, gave a figure of "several million euros."