New Delhi: A gang of masked thieves made away with jewellery worth about €4 million after breaking into a museum of a luxury glassmaker in France on Sunday.
The heist took place around 5:30 am in Wingen-sur-Moder in northeastern France, when burglars forced their way into the Lalique museum and entered the jewellery room. There they broke open six displays and stole about 20 pieces of jewellery, reported AFP, quoting an investigation source.
While the value of the stolen jewellery is yet to be ascertained, the source said the loss could be to the tune of several millions euros, “likely close to four million”.
According to another source, the thieves made off with crystal jewellery, which didn’t have precious gems. Hence, they cannot be melted down, reported Le Monde.
The burglary came to light after a cleaning lady arrived at the scene and informed the police, “An alarm went off, but by the time the security company had completed its checks, it was a cleaning lady who arrived first on the scene and called the police,” the first source told AFP.
The Lalique museum has been closed for “several days” after the robbery, according to its website.
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‘Major security lapse’
The mayor of the Wingen-sur-Moder town, Christian Dorschner, said while the alarms worked fine, the security guards should have acted promptly to stop the thieves.
“All the alarms went off, just as they should. And then with the security company, apparently, there was a major failure on their part: they didn’t intervene right away, they didn’t inform the gendarmes,” Dorschner told local newspaper Les Dernieres Nouvelles d’Alsace (DNA). “They were surely well-informed to carry out this job in that way; they must be … specialists”.
The museum, dedicated to renowned French jewellery and glass artist René Lalique, has “over 650 exceptional works that follow the career of René Lalique and his successors.” It opened in 2011.
The heist comes after the infamous robbery at the Louvre museum on 19 October last year, when masked burglars stole precious pieces of 19th-century jewellery, which belonged to French royalty. The stolen items included a tiara and brooch of Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III, and an emerald necklace and a pair of emerald earrings belonging to Empress Marie Louise, among other pieces.
They also attempted to steal French Empress Eugenie’s crown, but dropped it while fleeing. It was later found crushed, but “nearly intact” by the museum.
The police have arrested four men, who prosecutors say were involved in the Louvre museum heist. However, the mastermind is still on the loose.