Saudi princess says $900,000 of jewels stolen from her Paris hotel

PARIS - A Saudi princess has reported the theft of jewels worth 800,000 euros ($930,000) from her suite at the Ritz hotel in Paris, a police source said on Monday.

The woman, who was not named, said the jewels were taken on Friday afternoon. There were no signs that the room had been broken into, the source said. The woman told prosecutors the belongings were not left in the room's safe.

A spokesman for the Ritz declined to comment.

If confirmed, it would be the second heist from the chic hotel on Paris's Place Vendome this year.

In January, ax-bearing thieves burst into the lobby and stole millions of dollars worth of necklaces and other jewellery from display cases.

Police managed to catch three of them inside, and two others who escaped on a scooter ended up dropping a bag of their loot. All the jewels were eventually recovered.

Armed thefts are not uncommon in the area, where dozens of luxury boutiques and jewellery stores align the streets.

In December 2017, a man was able to substitute two diamonds and two rings worth 5.5 million euros in a jewellery store, replacing them with cheap fakes.

In October 2016, reality TV star Kim Kardashian was the victim of a robbery 10 minutes walk from the Ritz, in which millions of dollars' worth of her jewellery were stolen.

Police now keep a permanent presence in the neighborhood, but that has done little to deter determined robbers.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

World's top auction houses set to appraise Marcos jewelry

Representatives from the world's largest auction house are in Manila to appraise three sets of Marcos jewels which are stored at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

Christie's and Sotheby's are set to appraise the jewels including the Malacañang collection, which was abandoned when the Marcoses fled the Palace; the Hawaii collection, seized by the US Bureau of Customs upon the Marcoses' arrival in Hawaii in 1986; and the Roumeliotes collection that Demetriou Roumeliotes attempted to smuggle out of the country after the ouster of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

A 1991 assessment valued the three jewelry collections at 5 to 7 million dollars.

Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) Chair Richard Amurao said the appraisal is a significant step in determining the jewels' current value, which will also open the way for determining a final resolution on the assets.

- ANC, Market Edge, November 24, 2015

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

London police probe massive jewel heist

LONDON, United Kingdom - Thieves may have got away with a record haul of diamonds after a brazen heist in London's diamond district netted an estimated £200 million worth (275 million euro, $300 million) of gems, media reported Wednesday.

Burglars broke into a vault at a safe deposit center in Hatton Garden, where many jewellers had left their stocks over the long Easter weekend, and cracked open 70 secure boxes, the police said.

Earlier reports put the number of boxes raided at 300.

A security guard heard an alarm go off on Friday, a bank holiday when the shops would have been closed, but shut it off when he failed to spot any sign of a disturbance, media reported Wednesday.

The Sun newspaper quoted a Hatton Garden insider saying: "It is estimated that around £200 million in diamonds, jewels and cash were stolen."

Hatton Garden is the center of London's jewellery industry and has been home to hundreds of shops and manufacturers since the 19th century. The De Beers diamond company also has offices there.

One jeweller, Michael Miller, feared he may have lost up to £50,000 of uninsured jewellery and watches in the raid, only discovered Tuesday after the holiday break which coincided with Passover, when many of the area's Jewish diamond cutters and dealers were also away.

"There is a double-door entry and a locked system to go in. You have to go through two doors to get in the place and then get into the vault," he told reporters.

He added: "I have a collection of watches I was going to give my son and that is irreplaceable."

Another, Norman Bean, added that he was "shaken" and "devastated".

Reports suggested that the thieves may have hidden inside the building, emerging after staff went home to abseil down a lift shaft and smash into the vault.

Members of the London police's Flying Squad -- the unit which deals with heists and armed robberies -- are investigating.

Roy Ramm, a former Flying Squad commander, told the BBC that the raid had a "certain old-fashioned audacity about it".

Ramm said he "would not be surprised" if the value of the heist was as high as £200 million.

But he added that the true value may never be fully revealed and suggested that, as well as legitimate items of jewellery, items kept in such vaults could include firearms and drugs.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com