Thieves Break Into Paris Museum, Swipe $700K in Gold

Thieves have struck Paris' renowned Natural History Museum, stealing $700,000 worth of gold in a brazen heist that highlights a troubling trend targeting France's cultural treasures. Museum officials say the burglars broke in early Tuesday, using an angle grinder and blow torch and swiped several specimens of native gold—naturally-occurring alloys containing gold and silver, per CBS News. A police source reportedly told Le Parisien that the museum's alarm and surveillance systems had been taken offline by a cyberattack in July, giving the thieves a window to operate, per AFP. While the price tag for the pilfered items is based on the current price of raw gold, the museum notes the pieces hold "immeasurable heritage value."

"We are dealing with an extremely professional team, perfectly aware of where they needed to go, and with professional equipment," said museum director Emmanuel Skoulios, per AFP. The breach is hardly isolated. French museums have faced a string of audacious robberies in the last year. Earlier this month, the Adrien Dubouché National Museum in central France lost Chinese porcelain treasures worth more than $7 million, and on back-to-back days last November, thieves hit Paris' Cognacq-Jay Museum and another museum in Saone-et-Loire. The Natural History Museum's management acknowledged the recent thefts while noting the latest incident "comes at a critical time for cultural institutions and museums in particular."