A Chinese language girl has been arrested and charged over the theft of gold from the Pure Historical past Museum in Paris, in one in every of a number of latest high-profile break-ins concentrating on French cultural establishments, a prosecutor stated Tuesday.
The theft — by what the museum’s director on the time stated was an “extraordinarily skilled crew” — occurred on September 16, a bit over a month earlier than an audacious jewelry heist on the world-famous Louvre museum on Sunday.
A 24-year-old Chinese language girl was arrested in Barcelona on September 30 over the Pure Historical past Museum break-in and theft of gold price greater than $1 million, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau stated.
The suspect was handed over to French authorities on October 13 and was charged with theft and felony conspiracy and put in provisional detention the identical day.
Investigations confirmed she had left France the day of the break-in and was getting ready to return to China.
On the time of her arrest, she was making an attempt to eliminate almost one kilogram (2.2 kilos) of melted gold items, the prosecutor stated, with out offering extra particulars.
The Pure Historical past Museum curator found the theft of exhibited gold nuggets after a cleaner reported particles on web site.
The stolen gadgets included nuggets from Bolivia donated within the 18th century, from Russia’s Ural area gifted by Tsar Nicholas I in 1833, and from California relationship to the gold rush period.
A five-kilogram nugget from Australia found in 1990 was additionally taken, Beccuau stated.
Practically six kilograms of native gold was stolen, with damages estimated at 1.5 million euros ($1.7 million), she added, noting that the historic and scientific worth of the items was “priceless.”
Native gold is a steel alloy containing gold and silver of their pure, unrefined type.
Investigators discovered two museum doorways had been lower with a grinder and the show case breached utilizing a blowtorch.
Instruments together with a blowtorch, grinder, screwdriver, fuel cylinders and saws had been recovered close by.
Surveillance footage confirmed a lone intruder coming into the museum shortly after 1:00 am and leaving round 4:00 am, in line with Beccuau.
The investigation is ongoing, she added.
Police are additionally nonetheless on the hunt for thieves who stole priceless royal jewels from the Louvre museum in a spectacular daylight theft on Sunday. Officers stated Tuesday the jewels are price an estimated $102 million not together with their historic worth to France.
The heist has reignited a row over a scarcity of safety in France’s museums, which have suffered a spate of break-ins in latest months.
In early September, thieves snatched three porcelain works worth millions of dollars and classed as nationwide treasures in a heist on the Adrien Dubouche Nationwide Museum in Limoges in central France.
Final November, 4 males with axes and baseball bats smashed the show instances in broad daylight on the Cognacq-Jay museum in Paris, making off with a number of 18th-century works. That heist resulted in an insurance coverage cost of over $4 million to the Royal Assortment Belief, BBC News reported.
The next day, jewellery valued at a number of million {dollars} was stolen throughout an armed theft at a museum in Saone-et-Loire in central France.
