Arrested in Barcelona for stealing gold straws worth one and a half million euros from the Natural History Museum in Paris

BarcelonaFrench authorities have charged a Chinese woman with allegedly participating in the theft of several kilos of gold from the Natural History Museum in Paris. The incident occurred on September 16, and the woman was arrested in Barcelona on the 30th of the same month following a European arrest warrant. According to a statement released by the Paris prosecutor's office on the social media platform X, they became aware of the theft when a museum cleaner found debris. One of the curators then "noticed the disappearance of gold straws usually on display," valued at €1.5 million by the museum itself.

The investigation revealed that someone had cut two of the museum's doors with a sharpener and opened the display case containing the straws with a blowtorch, which was found in the area. In addition, the building's surveillance cameras show that the suspect was the only person to enter the museum shortly after 1 a.m. and left around 4 a.m. "after extensive surveillance of the surrounding area."

Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau explained that the suspect, born in China in 2001, is accused of theft as part of an organized gang and criminal association, for which she has been remanded in custody.

Historical value

Among the objects stolen last month from the Paris Museum of Natural History are a straw originally from Bolivia given to the Academy of Sciences in the 18th century, another from the Urals given by Tsar Nicholas I of Russia in 1833, one from California extracted during the 19th century gold rush (1990), and a piece of quartz containing a large amount of gold, discovered in Guyana at the end of the 19th century.

In fact, for this reason, the Paris prosecutor's office detailed that the estimate made of the museum's financial losses due to the theft "corresponds to the value of the native gold, higher than gold metal," and 50,000 euros in material damages linked to the actions committed during the theft. "The historical and scientific value of these pieces is considered incalculable," it insisted.