An armed robber disguised as a pensioner made off with £2.5million worth of jewelery after pulling a gun on the cashier of a luxury watch store in Monaco.
The offender appeared to be wearing a latex mask, and put on a suit and a flat cap to look like an old man and hide his identity, fooling unsuspecting passers-by as he robbed the store.
The robbery lasted seven and a half minutes and the masked looter stole €3 million worth of jewelery from the French Riviera store before escaping with a driver on the back of a scooter.
A CCTV camera captured the shocking robbery from start to finish, with footage showing how the bespectacled man used a cane as he pretended to limp into the store.
The brazen thief then walks up to the register and pulls a gun out of her bag, and the shocked shop assistant appears to freeze before forcing her to fill a plastic bag with expensive watches.
The offender appeared to be wearing a latex mask, a suit and a flat cap to look like an old man and hide his identity.
The thief orders the clerk to help him loot the store, giving her a plastic bag that they then fill with items.
The clerk appears visibly nervous as the thief continues taking watches from the window.
The attack on the Monaco store took place last Wednesday, and police are appealing for information while the thief remains at large almost a week later.
Footage shows the thief apparently ordering the store worker to clean the windows, even as passers-by stopped to gawk at the high-end watches.
He baffles onlookers by acting like a customer waiting to see some watches, appearing calm as he sits in a chair while resting his arm on the counter.
He then begins helping himself to the watches while working quickly to ransack the store, before spraying the surfaces with a substance in an attempt to erase any traces of his DNA.
The looter then makes off with her treasure, which is hidden in the shopping bag under her arm, at which point the terrified employee immediately jumps on the phone to alert the police.
The unidentified thief is believed to have fled towards Beausoleil, about a mile inland from Monaco, on the back seat of a scooter.
During the robbery no shots were fired and the seller was unharmed, but after the terrible event he was taken to the hospital in a state of shock.
The masked thief forces the woman to take the watches during the robbery that lasts seven and a half minutes
The robbery lasted seven and a half minutes and the masked looter stole €3 million worth of jewelery from the French Riviera store.
A police officer told French newspaper Le Figaro: “They are certainly not amateurs, it takes a lot of preparation to commit a robbery in broad daylight in Monaco, given the police presence at the scene and the general level of security.”
A spokesperson for Monaco Watch Company said: ‘As many of you already know, our beloved store was robbed a couple of days ago.
‘A masked man threatened our employee with a gun and forced her to empty the windows.
Fortunately no one was physically injured during this process, but the shock is very deep.”
The thief sprays the surfaces with a substance in an attempt to erase any trace of their DNA.
They added: “This brutal setback is hitting us all in the hardest way possible, but we will not be disappointed, especially since all of you are giving us enormous strength to get through this period of time.”
‘With this video we wanted to thank all of you for your support and even more so to the partners who wish to leave us their watches in storage so we can reopen the store as quickly as possible with the maximum possible strength.
“Thank you so much again to all of you from the bottom of our hearts for being so close to us.”