07/08/2013 00:00
TW
0

Palma.—The 40-year-old French-Algerian man known as a notorious thief was caught in the act of robbing a luxury hotel on the island on 21 June and taken into custody, is now being held on remand in Palma prison after also being held responsible for a wave of robberies from hotels in the north of the island.

According to sources close to the investigation, the man was “formallyrecognised through images taken by cameras at the Novotel,“ the hotel in Cannes, France where the 1.4 million euro theft occurred on 17 May.

Comparisons “Comparisons were made” with theft from the Novotel, and the suspect was apparently “used to doing this kind of thing,” said a source close to the investigation.

Chopard jewellery reportedly due to be loaned to film stars at Cannes was stolen from the hotel room of an American employee in a pre-dawn heist in May. A strongbox containning jewels was ripped out of the wardrobe and carried off.

The jeweller redesigned the festival's Palme d'Or trophy and each year lends jewellery to stars for their walk up the red-carpeted steps at the Palais des Festivals.

French investigators will be able to interview the suspect here in Palma when they have received instructions from their Spanish counterparts, the source said.

In total two men are being sought in connection with the Chopard jewellery theft, according to French police.
On Friday the safes of three rooms in the billionaires' resort of the Hotel de Saint Jean Cap Ferrat, east of Nice, were broken into and jewellery and other valuables estimated at 40'000 euros were stolen, the hotel's management said.

40 million euros And on Wednesday, local prosecutors said two men armed with a grenade and gun burst into a Cannes store selling luxury watches and made off with 100 to 150 items, just a couple of blocks away from the Carlton hotel, which was the scene of a record 40 million euro robbery a week ago.