Daring Louvre Heist: Thieves Likely to Be Caught, But Jewels Unlikely to Be Recovered

A series of audacious thefts in European museums, culminating in the Louvre robbery, showed that stolen items are quickly melted down or sold on the black market, so the chance of recovering them intact is almost zero. Cultural heritage experts say that a lack of investment in security turns even the most famous collections into easy prey, UNN writes with reference to Reuters.

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Criminal groups across Europe, in need of cash, are increasingly stealing valuable jewels and gold from museums such as the Louvre, and although law enforcement often catches the thieves, they find it difficult to recover priceless items

According to experts, "only a small group of criminals would be capable of such an audacious robbery as on Sunday in Paris, and may already be known to the police."

But the items themselves have most likely already been dismantled and sold.

If I steal a Van Gogh painting, it's a Van Gogh. I can't get rid of it through any other channel than the black art market. But when I steal... jewelry, I can resell it through the illegal market as precious stones

The audacious robbery of jewels from the Louvre, the world's most visited museum, was seen by some as a "national humiliation" that led to security checks at numerous cultural sites in France.

If you target the Louvre, the most important museum in the world, and then escape with the French crown jewels, something was wrong with security. This is one of the biggest manhunts in French history

The Louvre's management has actually already raised the alarm about the lack of investment in security. After all, at least four French museums have been robbed in the last two months, including gold stolen from the Museum of Natural History in Paris, according to media reports.

Christopher Marinello, founder of Art Recovery International, which tracks stolen artworks, said such museum robberies are on the rise across Europe and beyond. He cited examples of such cases in the Netherlands, France, and Egypt.

Paris prosecutor's office sounds the alarm

The Paris prosecutor's office has entrusted the investigation to a specialized unit of the Paris police, known as the BRB, which deals with high-profile robberies.

Former police officer Pascal Schkudlara, who served in this unit, said that the BRB was involved in the investigation of Kim Kardashian's case in 2016, when Parisian thieves stole her $4 million engagement ring, as well as the recent series of kidnappings of wealthy crypto bosses. He said that the BRB has about 100 agents, more than a dozen of whom specialize in museum thefts.

Investigators will examine video footage, phone conversations, and forensic evidence, and informants will also be involved.

They can have teams working on this around the clock and for a long period

According to Brand, the police will carefully study surveillance camera footage from recent weeks, trying to identify suspicious individuals. Corinne Chartrel, a police officer who previously worked at the French Central Office for Combating Trafficking in Cultural Property, said that the jewels could well end up in some global diamond center, such as Antwerp, where "there are probably people who don't care much about the origin of these items."

Diamonds could also be cut into smaller stones, and gold melted down and sold without indicating its origin. If thieves feel they are being trapped, they can discard or even destroy the loot.

Once they are cut into smaller jewels, the case will be done. It's all over. We will never see these items intact again. A very small percentage of stolen artworks are returned. When it comes to jewelry, this percentage is even smaller

Any theory that these items were commissioned by a mysterious buyer was ridiculous, Brand said.

This is unheard of. .. You can only see this in Hollywood movies

Cultural authorities across Europe will consider how best to ensure museum security while limiting funding for security. Brand said that it is impossible to properly protect a museum, so the best solution would be to give the police more time to respond by making windows thicker or adding more doors.

They know they only have five or six minutes to get away with it, because after six minutes the police show up. So, if they go into a museum... and find that it takes more than six, seven, eight minutes, they won't do it

Kimmo Leva, Director General of the National Gallery of Finland, said that financial realities require difficult decisions.

The exacerbation of the everyday economy is naturally not the best basis for making the investments needed to mitigate potential threats

Recall

Earlier, UNN wrote that during an audacious raid on Sunday, thieves stole eight pieces of jewelry from the Louvre Museum in Paris, which officials say are of "incalculable" value. The main target of the attackers was the Apollo Gallery, which houses the historical collection of the French crown jewels.