In brief
In the early hours of Thursday, two men smashed a glass case at the Vienna Museum of Applied Arts and absconded with a platinum‑plated necklace studded with more than 600 diamonds. The piece, worth an estimated $4 million, had been on display as part of a Van Cleef & Arpels exhibition. Police released CCTV footage and suspect photos, calling on the public for information. Security experts warn that the incident signals a rise in aggressive museum heists across Europe.
A pair of men entered the Museum of Applied Arts (MAK) in Vienna early on Thursday afternoon. They smashed a glass display case and seized a platinum‑plated necklace that had more than 600 diamonds—a piece once worn by Queen Nazli of Egypt and valued at roughly $4 million.
Police released confocal and CCTV footage that captured the suspects in front of the museum’s atrium. The men fled northwards toward the Vienna Stadtpark, where they were last seen. One suspect is believed to have been carrying a real firearm.
MAK’s director, Lilli Hollein, said the museum had coordinated with Van Cleef & Arpels on a tight security plan for the exhibition. She added that staff handled the “armed incident” calmly and that no one was injured.
Authorities have deployed police dogs and forensic teams to investigate the scene. Europol warns that “museum thefts are becoming increasingly aggressive and violent,” suggesting the rise of organised criminal networks.
The stolen necklace weighed more than 200 carats of diamonds and had an estimated auction value of $3.6 million to $4.6 million a decade ago. The exhibition has reopened since the theft, albeit without the necklace.
