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July 31st, 2013 
Peter Nolan
The “apparently well-informed” individual struck as unarmed security men were
transferring valuables from a safe to display chests, completing his crime
in less than a minute, posing widespread questions about the level of
security in the resort.
Wednesday’s robbery is the second in five months at the Kronometry store. In
February, burglars took advantage of a staff lunch break to cut a
disk-shaped hole into a bay window leading to the store’s internal
courtyard, stealing 150 watches worth 1 million euros.
On Wednesday, Cannes’ Right-wing deputy mayor David Lisnard slammed what he
called “the disengagement of the state in law enforcement in Cannes” and
falling police numbers.
“(The police) clearly no longer have sufficient means and this state
failing…is becoming really problematic for our town in terms of security and
image, and thus jobs,” said Mr Lisnard on his Facebook page.
But speaking after the Carlton heist, top local government official, Adolphe
Colrat, said: “This hold-up is not linked to a problem of public
security; one shouldn’t establish a link between this spectacular robbery
and a rise in delinquency in Cannes.”
The government prefect for Alpes-Maritimes département said he would push for
jewellers in Cannes to create a local equivalent of the so-called “Vendôme
Committee” – a club of major gem merchants set up in 1936 in Paris’ chic
Place Vendome to promote their brands and thwart heist attempts.
Such a committee would “constitute a single point of contact for state
administrations and the police,” he said.
Mr Colrat was due to meet management at the Carlton hotel, saying he he would
quiz them on “whether sufficient preventative security is in place to
exhibit or sell products of such value.”
His comment followed claims by one unionised staff member that hotel
management were guilty of “carelessness” in terms of security.
The robberies of the past three days follow a string of other high-profile
thefts in the port town.
At this year’s Cannes Film Festival, jewels worth almost £1 million, destined
to ornament film stars on the red carpet, were stolen from a Chopard
representative’s suite in a Novotel hotel. Less than a week later, a de
Grisogono necklace created to mark the Swiss house’s 20th anniversary worth
almost £2 million vanished during a festival party at a hotel in nearby
Antibes.
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