In a bold robbery, intruders infiltrated the National Natural History Museum in Paris, stealing gold specimens valued at approximately €600,000 ($700,000), marking another audacious theft targeting cultural landmarks, museum officials reported.
Located in Paris’s elegant 5th arrondissement, the museum is renowned for its dinosaur exhibits and taxidermy collections but also boasts an extensive geology and mineralogy section.
The break-in was discovered Tuesday morning, with evidence suggesting the culprits used an angle grinder and blowtorch to breach the iconic riverside complex, a favorite among locals and visitors alike.
“The stolen items include several pieces of native gold from our national collections,” the museum’s press office told AFP on Tuesday evening.
“While their market value is estimated at €600,000 based on raw gold prices, their cultural and scientific significance is beyond measure,” they emphasized.
Native gold, a naturally occurring alloy of gold and silver, is prized for its unrefined beauty and rarity.
According to an anonymous police source cited by *Le Parisien*, a cyberattack in July disabled the museum’s alarm and surveillance systems, though it remains uncertain whether these were operational during the heist.
Museum director Emmanuel Skoulios told BFM TV, “This was the work of a highly skilled team, fully aware of their target and equipped with professional tools.
Their choice of these specific items was no accident.”
