A Chinese woman has been arrested and charged with stealing $1 million worth of gold from Paris’s Museum of Natural History, a theft that occurred just weeks before the historic Louvre jewelery theft.
The theft took place on September 16, about a month after Sunday’s theft of France’s crown jewels from the Louvre. according to South China Morning PostThe director of the Natural History Museum described the perpetrators as an “extremely professional team”.
The only reported suspect was a 24-year-old Chinese citizen who was captured by authorities in Barcelona, Spain, on September 30. On October 13, she was handed over to French police and charged with theft and criminal conspiracy and was temporarily detained. Investigators added that the suspect left France on the day of the theft and planned to return to China. Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau told media she was trying to dispose of nearly 2.2 pounds of molten gold nuggets when she was arrested.
The director of the Natural History Museum discovered that several gold nuggets had been stolen from a display case after a conservator reported suspicious debris in the exhibit area. The loot included gold nuggets from the Ural region of Russia given as a gift by Tsar Nicholas I in 1833, as well as items discovered during the California Gold Rush. The thieves made off with 13 pounds of natural gold; a rare form of natural gold element that contains no alloys and is resistant to tarnishing. Becu called the historical and scientific value of the lost natural gold “priceless.”
Paris investigators said thieves used a grinder to cut open two of the museum’s doors and used a blowtorch to break display cases. Both tools were found at the scene, along with a screwdriver, a gas bottle and a saw. An intruder entered the museum shortly after 1 a.m. and fled around 4 a.m. The investigation is ongoing.
A global manhunt is underway for the thieves who broke into the Louvre on Sunday and absconded with some $102 million in Napoleonic-era jewelry. The break-in, which occurred during daylight hours during the museum’s opening hours, has reignited criticism of the security of France’s cultural institutions.
