A staggering €40 million worth of jewels and diamonds were stolen yesterday from the Carlton Intercontinental Hotel in Cannes, in one of the biggest French jewellery heists in recent years, police said.

The French Riviera hotel was hosting a temporary jewellery exhibit over the summer of the prestigious Leviev diamond house, which is owned by Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev.

The theft took place around noon in broad daylight, but police could not confirm local media reports that the robber was a single gunman who stuffed a suitcase with the gems.

Earlier this year in May, Cannes was struck by two highly publicised jewellery heists during the Cannes Film Festival.

In the first theft, robbers stole about one million dollars (€735,099) worth of jewels after ripping a safe from the wall of a hotel room. The jewellery was taken from the Novotel room of an employee of Chopard, the Swiss-based watch and jewellery maker that has loaned bling to A-list stars at the film festival.

In the second theft, thieves outsmarted 80 security guards in an exclusive hotel and made off with a De Grisogono necklace that creators say was worth two million euros.