Overview
- Two unmasked men paid admission to the Museum of Applied Arts, smashed a glass case with a hammer and walked out with the necklace during opening hours on Thursday, with CCTV capturing their faces.
- The stolen piece is a platinum Van Cleef & Arpels necklace set with 673 diamonds totaling more than 200 carats that was commissioned for Egypt’s royal family and sold at Sotheby’s in 2015 for about $4.3 million.
- Vienna police released photos and physical descriptions of the suspects and launched an active manhunt while the Federal Criminal Police Office’s cultural-heritage unit joined the investigation.
- Local reporting has suggested an unconfirmed lead that the theft may have been commissioned by a Balkan-based criminal group, but authorities have not publicly validated that theory.
- The museum closed the Van Cleef & Arpels exhibition, evacuated visitors during the raid, and officials say the case renews scrutiny of museum security as Europol warns thieves are using faster, more forceful tactics that can make items harder to trace.