Thieves have stolen jewellery worth $825,000 from the world's biggest and most luxurious watch and jewellery fair in Basel, authorities said Saturday, the Associated Press (AP) reported.
"It happened on Tuesday before the fair started," said Peter Gill, spokesman for the public prosecutor's office in the canton, or state, of Basel.
The jewellery was grabbed when it was being brought to a stall in the exhibition hall for the Baselworld fair, he told the AP. "Nobody was hurt," he added.
He declined to comment further to avoid compromising the ongoing inquiry.
The theft is likely to be the largest in the fair's recent history, Baselworld spokesman Bernhard Keller told the AP.
But he said that security at the fair was adequate.
"We have very good security measures. There is no need to change anything," he said, adding that the show was continuing normally.
More than 2,000 exhibitors from 45 countries present the latest products from diamond encrusted masterpieces to modest plastic models at the fair, which runs from April 12 to 19.
In another incident, thieves stole jewellery worth about $115,000 from an Indian businessman who was on his way home from Baselworld on Saturday, police said.
Thieves grabbed the man's suitcase while he was at the Zurich airport checking in for a flight, police said. No arrests had been made.
