French police may nab Louvre thieves but unlikely to recover their loot

Crime gangs around Europe are increasingly robbing valuable jewels and gold from cash-needy museums like the Louvre, but while law enforcement often catches the thieves, they struggle to recover the priceless goods, police and art experts say.

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Only a small pool of criminals would be capable of such a job as Sunday's audacious robbery in Paris and may already be known to police, the specialists say. But the objects themselves could be quickly broken down into component parts and sold on.

"If I steal a Van Gogh, it's a Van Gogh. I can't dispose of it through any other channel than an illicit art market," said Marc Balcells, a Barcelona-based expert in crimes against cultural heritage. "But when I am stealing ... jewelry, I can move it through an illicit market as precious stones."

The brazen heist of crown jewels from the Louvre, the world's most visited museum, has been decried by some as a national humiliation and sparked security checks across France's multitude of cultural sites.

"If you target the Louvre, the most important museum in the world, and then get away with the French crown jewels, something was wrong with security," said art investigator Arthur Brand.

"It's one of the biggest manhunts in French history."

Officials at the Louvre, home to artworks such as the Mona Lisa, had in fact already sounded the alarm about lack of investment.

The Culture and Interior Ministers agreed in an emergency meeting to investigate what went wrong and to strengthen security measures where necessary at cultural institutions across the nation.

"For too long we have looked into the security of visitors but not the security of art works," Culture Minister Rachida Dati told M6TV, adding that she was hoping to put in place shortcuts to public procurement rules to speed up security enhancements in museums.