Gold worth $700,000 stolen from Paris's Natural History Museum amid string of similar heists (www.cbsnews.com)
from MicroWave@lemmy.world to world@lemmy.world on 17 Sep 11:43
https://lemmy.world/post/36050473

Thieves have broken into Paris’s Natural History Museum, making off with gold samples worth $700,000 in the latest of a worrying series of robberies from cultural institutions, according to the museum.

Famed for its dinosaur skeletons and stuffed animals, the National Natural History Museum in the chic 5th district of the French capital also houses a geology and mineralogy gallery.

A break-in was detected on Tuesday morning, with the intruders reportedly using an angle grinder and a blow torch to force their way into the river-side complex that is popular with Parisians and tourists.

#world

threaded - newest

ook@discuss.tchncs.de on 17 Sep 12:11 next collapse

<img alt="" src="https://media.tenor.com/k-9TN6BT4rIAAAAC/national-treasure-nicolas-cage.gif">

themeatbridge@lemmy.world on 17 Sep 12:18 next collapse

The fucked up part is that any historical or scientific value of the artifacts is going to be melted away so the thieves can sell the gold.

fossilesque@mander.xyz on 17 Sep 12:32 collapse

I wouldn’t bet on that. These objects are worth more in the current form to the right buyers. The wealthy love hoarding these trinkets in private collections.

Eq0@literature.cafe on 17 Sep 12:42 collapse

There is some hope for that indeed, fingers crossed

fossilesque@mander.xyz on 17 Sep 12:43 collapse

Heists like this are often commissioned jobs. It would be easier to rob a shop. This is organised crime, regardless.

themeatbridge@lemmy.world on 17 Sep 13:11 collapse

Or they are crimes of opportunity. Museum security is probably not what we see in movies, and smaller museums might leave the wrong person holding the right key at the right time.

But the fact that there have been similar robberies would support your theory.

melsaskca@lemmy.ca on 17 Sep 12:36 next collapse

I’d look at the chair seats in the plowed over Rose garden at the Whitehouse.

Bonesince1997@lemmy.world on 17 Sep 12:45 next collapse

They got past the giant rolling boulder.

Blackfeathr@lemmy.world on 17 Sep 13:06 next collapse

Anyone got an eye on Hobby Lobby over this? Stealing precious artifacts from museums has been their MO in the past.

JoeKrogan@lemmy.world on 17 Sep 22:49 next collapse

Lupin ?

flyos@jlai.lu on 18 Sep 05:51 collapse

This happens right as the Museum is going through a crisis following a cyber-attack this summer… They are still recovering from this in terms of IT. I’m not sure how related it is, but it could be that their security got impacted, and the thiefs knew it.