SW associates, an affiliate of UK insurer Lloyd’s, is offering a 1 million pound ($1.33 million) reward for information leading to the recovery of jewelry stolen from a hotel in Cannes late July.
The amount stolen was worth 88 million pounds ($135 million), making it the biggest heist that France has seen to date, according to The Wall Street Journal. The reward and call for information comes a little over a week since the jewel thief, armed with an automatic handgun, broke into the luxury Carlton International Hotel in Cannes and stole 34 pieces of jewelry.
The robbery stunned many with its simplicity, as it was just one man who managed to pull off a heist of such magnitude, but Larry Lawton, a reformed jewel thief, told CNN that "[i]t was definitely a professional heist,” that the thief probably had an “inside guy,” and it was likely not as simple as it appeared.
This isn’t the first high-profile jewel theft in France—in fact, it is the third (and most costly) in three months. According to The Guardian, police have noted that the Carlton robbery has certain similarities to heists pulled off by the Pink Panther gang. While as of yet, no definite connection has been made, authorities will be investigating further to see if the large network of jewel thieves is behind the Cannes heist.
Photo courtesy of Christophe Finot, Wikimedia Commons