Thieves steal valuables from a wide range of targets, including the wealthy and famous, as well as museums and high-end retailers.
Five suspects arrested for $102 million in Louvre jewelry heist
Paris police have arrested five more suspects in the $102 million Louvre jewelry heist, with DNA linking one to the scene.
In early October, police said a group of robbers, including two people dressed as construction workers, stole millions of dollars worth of jewelry and loot before fleeing in broad daylight.
But these criminals weren’t robbing the Louvre in Paris. The brazen theft occurred at a residence in New York City.
The day before the New York theft, police said someone from across the country broke into an off-site storage facility at the Oakland Museum in California and stole more than 1,000 items, including jewelry, laptops, Native American baskets and other historical artifacts.
Two recent thefts in the United States highlight how attractive high-value targets have become for criminals, who have recently targeted not just the rich and famous, but also museums and high-end retailers.
Robert Wittman, a former FBI agent who founded the bureau’s international art crimes team, said valuables of all kinds, from fine art to handbags to watches to baseball cards to rare cheeses and wine, are attractive targets for thieves because their value has increased significantly over time.
“What I’m seeing today is that high-value assets are frequently stolen, and the reason for that is because of their value…The inflation of value creates interest in the criminal community,” Whitman said.
Skilled crew stole millions of dollars worth of treasure
Just hours after the infamous Louvre robbery, 2,000 silver and gold coins worth more than $100,000 were stolen from another French museum. At least four other French museums have been robbed in the past two months, according to media reports.
Whitman and other art crime experts said such museum thefts, targeting jewelry and gold objects that can be easily disassembled and sold, are on the rise. Museums are notoriously difficult to secure and are therefore often vulnerable, but they are not the only targets.
In June, federal authorities charged seven men with stealing $100 million worth of diamonds, Rolex watches and emeralds from a Brink semi-truck in Southern California. The incident has been called “the largest jewelry heist in U.S. history.”
The Jewelry Security Alliance, a nonprofit industry group, found that while the number of robberies, robberies, and other thefts targeting the U.S. jewelry industry decreased in 2024, the severity of losses caused by sophisticated thieves was so great that losses increased to an estimated total of $142.5 million.
Highly organized teams are also believed to be behind a series of recent robberies targeting high-profile athletes, including NFL stars Joe Burrow, Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce. In February, seven men were charged with stealing more than $2 million in cash and luxury goods from players’ homes.
The FBI warned that the perpetrators were part of a sophisticated group that conducted extensive technical and physical surveillance before infiltrating.
“These preparation tactics allow thieves to carry out robberies in a short amount of time. Organized thieves bypass alarm systems, use Wi-Fi jammers to block Wi-Fi connections, disable devices, cover surveillance cameras, and obscure their identities,” the FBI said.
Contributor: Jon Hoefling, USA TODAY; Reuters
