By Julia Payne
BRUSSELS, Aug 24 (Reuters) – Art thieves in Europe are committing more violent robberies focusing on gold and jewels, and specialist gangs have been replaced by ad-hoc opportunists recruited through social media, Europol said on Monday.
The heist at the Louvre Museum in Paris in October last year was a prime example of these shifts, Europol said, as the thieves threatened guards and visitors, and stole €88 million worth of jewels such as Empress Eugenie’s tiara.
Over the last two years, art thieves have shifted their attention to precious metals, jewels and cultural artefacts that offer greater profits, the EU’s law enforcement agency said in a report.
The price of gold has surged 85% over the past two years, as investors and central banks turn to the metal as a safe haven. The London Bullion Market Association, which oversees London’s over-the-counter gold trading hub, has warned that “as gold prices rise to historic levels, illicit flows and market distortions are also increasing.”
Europol said: “offenders are breaching premises and display cases using tools such as sledgehammers, axes, crowbars and, in some instances, explosives.”
Where traditional gangs used “deception and stealth”, had a central leader and niche expertise, recent thefts were carried out by a decentralised ad-hoc group of profit-seeking opportunists, recruited through social media on a “crime-as-a-service” basis, it said.
Europol added thieves were increasingly targeting gold items from nuggets and coins to jewels.
“Precious metals can be easily melted down, leaving no trace for law enforcement, and facilitating illicit sales during the fencing process. Precious stones in jewellery, on the other hand, can be easily removed and sold further,” the report said.
In January last year, thieves used explosives to steal a 2,500-year-old Dacian golden helmet and three ancient gold bracelets from a museum in the Netherlands. The artefacts were later recovered and returned to Romania, although one bracelet is still missing.
Europol also noted an increase in thefts of ancient Chinese porcelain artefacts such as Ming Dynasty vases due to high demand.
(Reporting by Julia Payne, additional reporting by Polina Devitt in LondonEditing by Alexandra Hudson)
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