Robbers stole a 600-diamond necklace from a Vienna museum in broad daylight
Two men smashed a glass display case at the Vienna Museum of Applied Arts and stole a platinum diamond necklace worth over $4 million.
An international operation is underway in Vienna to find two men who stole a necklace adorned with over 600 diamonds from a museum, writes the BBC.
Police reported that on Thursday afternoon, two suspects smashed a glass display case at the Vienna Museum of Applied Arts (MAK) and stole a platinum diamond necklace, believed to be worth over $4 million.
The necklace, created for the former Egyptian royal family, was part of an exhibition by the jewelry company Van Cleef & Arpels, which will run at MAK until September.
This theft is the latest in a series of high-profile museum robberies that have seen artifacts stolen from European museums.
Vienna police have released surveillance camera footage of the two unmasked suspects. Police are urging anyone with information about the incident to come forward.
A police statement said that one of the perpetrators was believed to be armed with a firearm.
After obtaining the necklace, the robbers, according to police, disappeared "in the direction of Vienna City Park," located south of the museum.
Lilli Hollein, the general director of MAK, stated: "The theft of a very valuable piece of jewelry... has deeply shaken us."
In her statement, she reported that the museum had developed a security plan in cooperation with Van Cleef & Arpels specifically for this exhibition, adding: "Security issues were taken very seriously, and all measures were meticulously prepared."
Hollein said that staff reacted calmly and followed established procedures during the "armed incident," and that no one was injured.
She added that MAK had thoroughly reviewed its security measures ahead of the exhibition, "especially in light of incidents in major museums in recent years."
On Thursday, one of the most important collections of prehistoric jewelry and artifacts was stolen from a Spanish museum.
Earlier this month, four Renaissance paintings were stolen from a museum in Sicily, and earlier this year, three paintings by Renoir, Cezanne, and Matisse, valued at millions of euros, were stolen from a museum in Parma.
These robberies followed a brazen attack on the Louvre in Paris last October, when masked bandits stole priceless jewelry. The series of thefts has raised questions about the security of European cultural institutions.
Europol stated that museum thefts "are becoming increasingly aggressive, with a shift towards violent methods and the use of force," adding that this "may indicate the involvement of new criminal networks."
The necklace stolen in Vienna was created for the former Egyptian royal family.
Queen Nazli wore it in 1939 for her daughter Fawzia's wedding to the future Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
Van Cleef & Arpels describes the piece as a "triumph of white jewelry." The diamonds in the necklace weigh more than 200 carats.
When the necklace was put up for auction ten years ago, its estimated value was between $3.6 million and $4.6 million.
Police K9 units have been deployed in Vienna and the province of Lower Austria, and experts are analyzing evidence and CCTV footage.
The exhibition has reopened.
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