Value of stolen Cannes jewels may be $136 mn

The value of jewels stolen in a dramatic theft in the French resort city of Cannes has been raised to about 103 million euros ($136 million).

BBC said the figure was given by a French prosecutor. It would make the Carlton Hotel heist one of the biggest gem thefts in Europe this century.

An armed man Sunday seized the gems from an exhibition of diamonds by the jeweller Leviev.

Earlier, the jewels were estimated at about 40 million euros ($53 million).

The hotel is located on the Croisette promenade, one of the most prestigious locations in the city.

BBC said the Carlton Hotel is where Alfred Hitchcock's 1955 film "To Catch A Thief" -- about a jewel thief -- was filmed.

Media reports said the robber made off with the jewels in a briefcase.

The Cannes film festival was hit by two jewellery thefts in May.

A necklace by a Swiss jeweller said to be worth 1.9 million euros ($2.5 million) was lost after a party at a five-star hotel in the resort town of Cap d'Antibes, while more than 777,000 euros (or $1 million) worth of jewels were taken from the hotel room of an employee of another Swiss jeweller.