A 24-year-old Chinese woman has been detained by French prosecutors in Paris for allegedly stealing gold nuggets from the National Museum of Natural History in Paris.
The Paris Prosecutor’s Office announced on Tuesday that preliminary charges of organized theft and criminal conspiracy were filed against the woman on October 13.
The suspect is accused of breaking into the National Museum of Natural History in Paris in the early hours of September 16 and fleeing with gold nuggets weighing approximately 6 kg. The theft was discovered that morning when a museum cleaner noticed debris on the exhibition hall floor.
Forensic analysis revealed that two museum doors had been cut with a cutting tools, and the display case housing the gold nuggets had been breached using a welding torch. Investigators found a cutting tool, screwdriver, three gas canisters for a welding torch, and a saw at the scene.
According to prosecutors, CCTV footage shows an individual entering the museum around 1 a.m. and leaving at approximately 4 a.m.
The stolen artifacts include four significant pieces: a Bolivian gold nugget donated to the French Academy of Sciences in the 18th century, a gold nugget from the Ural Mountains gifted by Tsar Nicholas I of Russia in 1833, a gold nugget discovered during the California Gold Rush in the late 19th century, and a gold nugget weighing over 5 kg found in Australia in 1990.
Prosecutors estimate the value of these natural gold nuggets, which are considered more precious than standard gold bullion, at around 1.5 million EUR (approximately 1.74 million USD.
The investigation revealed that the woman attempted to leave France for China on the day of the theft. Prosecutors immediately activated the European judicial cooperation system, leading to her arrest by Spanish authorities in Barcelona on September 30. She was subsequently extradited to France.
