BRAZEN

Thieves Swipe Special Item Worth Millions in Wild Museum Heist

The men bought tickets to enter the museum before making their move.

Thieves have stolen a 200-carat platinum-and-diamond necklace worth several million dollars during a brazen heist at Vienna’s Museum of Applied Arts. The Van Cleef and Arpels necklace, designed for the former royal family of Egypt and worn by Queen Nazli in 1939 at her daughter’s wedding, was set with 673 precious stones. It was one of 500 pieces included in an exhibit devoted to the French jewelry designers that had been on display since June. On Thursday, two men bought tickets to enter the museum, smashed the necklace’s glass display case with a hammer, and then ran in an unknown direction, police said. The thieves did not wear masks and were clearly seen on surveillance cameras. The exhibit, scheduled to run until September 27, was closed immediately after the theft. It was the latest in a series of high-profile art heists that have rocked Europe over the past year, including October’s break-in at the Louvre Museum in Paris. In that case, the suspected thieves have been arrested, but police have yet to recover the $100 million worth of jewelry they stole.