Stolen Louvre loot unlikely to be recovered: Experts
The Louvre remains closed after historic jewels were stolen in a daring daylight heist at the famous museum in Paris.
Crime gangs around Europe are increasingly robbing valuable jewels and gold from cash-needy museums like the Louvre, but while law enforcement often catches the thieves, they struggle to recover the priceless goods, police and art experts say.
Only a small pool of criminals would be capable of such a job as Sundayâs audacious robbery in Paris and may already be known to police, the specialists say. But the objects themselves could be quickly broken down into component parts and sold on.
âIf I steal a Van Gogh, itâs a Van Gogh. I canât dispose of it through any other channel than an illicit art market,â said Marc Balcells, a Barcelona-based expert in crimes against cultural heritage. âBut when I am stealing ⌠jewellery, I can move it through an illicit market as precious stones.â
The brazen heist of crown jewels from the Louvre, the worldâs most visited museum, has been decried by some as a national humiliation and sparked security checks across Franceâs multitude of cultural sites.
âIf you target the Louvre, the most important museum in the world, and then get away with the French crown jewels, something was wrong with security,â said art investigator Arthur Brand.
âItâs one of the biggest manhunts in French history.â
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Officials at the Louvre, home to artworks such as the Mona Lisa, had in fact already sounded the alarm about lack of investment.
And at least four French museums have been robbed in the last two months, including gold stolen from the Natural History Museum in Paris, according to media reports.
Christopher Marinello, founder of Art Recovery International, which tracks stolen art, said such museum heists were on the rise across Europe and further afield.
He cited cases in the Netherlands, France, Egypt.
âIf you have jewels or gold in your collections, you need to be worried,â Marinello said.
Paris prosecutors have entrusted the investigation to a specialised Paris police unit known as the BRB, which is used to dealing with high-profile robberies.
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Former cop Pascal Szkudlara, who served in the unit, said the BRB handled the 2016 Kim Kardashian probe, when Paris thieves stole her $US4 million engagement ring, as well as a recent spate of kidnappings of wealthy crypto bosses.
He said the BRB has about 100 agents, with over a dozen specialised in museum thefts. Investigators will look at video footage, telephone records, and forensic evidence, while informants will also be activated.
âThey can have teams working on it 24/7 and for a long period,â Szkudlara said, expressing â100 per centâ confidence the thieves would be caught.
Police will be poring over security footage going back weeks, looking to identify suspicious people casing out the joint, Brand said.
Corinne Chartrelle, a cop who previously worked at the French Policeâs Central Office for the Fight against Trafficking in Cultural Property, said the jewels could feasibly end up in a global diamond centre like Antwerp where there âare probably people who arenât too concerned about the origin of the items.â
The diamonds could also be cut into smaller stones and the gold melted down, leaving buyers unaware of their provenance.
If the thieves feel the net closing, they could chuck or destroy the loot altogether.
Police are clearly in a race against time.
âOnce theyâre been cut into smaller jewels, the deed is done. Itâs over. Weâll never see these pieces again intact,â said Marinello. âItâs a very small percentage, recovering stolen artworks. When it comes to jewellery, that percentage is even less.â
-with AP
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