Princess loses €10m in hotel robbery

Burglars who raided the Italian hotel suite of a Saudi princess got away with around €10.5m in jewellery and cash.

Burglars who raided the Italian hotel suite of a Saudi princess got away with around €10m in jewellery and cash.

Revealing the theft today, police said the princess was not in her room at the luxury Colonna Pevero Hotel in Porto Cervo, a resort on the island of Sardinia, when the robbers struck sometime last Tuesday night or early Wednesday.

The thieves used a master key to gain access, then ripped out the wall safe.

Police in the nearby town of Olbia declined to say whether they believed the robbery was an inside job.

Officials did not identify the princess.

The seaside village of Porto Cervo is a main resort on Sardinia's Costa Smeralda, or Emerald Coast. The area is a magnet for the yachts of millionaires and is dotted with villas owned by the rich and powerful, including Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi.

Robbers have also targeted a Moroccan businessman staying at a nearby hotel as well as seaside private villas.