Thieves buy tickets before stealing necklace from Vienna museum

Two men successfully stole a luxurious 200-carat platinum and diamond necklace from the Vienna Museum of Applied Arts. The heist unfolded when the thieves purchased entry tickets and breached a glass display case with a hammer, evading security by not wearing masks. Police confirmed that the duo was easily identifiable on surveillance footage.

The Van Cleef and Arpels necklace, adorned with 673 precious stones, was estimated to be worth several million dollars. This incident marks a troubling trend of high-profile museum heists across Europe. Despite the museum announcing a closure for an ongoing exhibition, the specific wing where the theft took place reopened shortly thereafter, with no notification to the public regarding the incident.

The necklace, originally intended for the former Egyptian royal family, had been on display since June as part of a French designers exhibit. The French jewelry company, Van Cleef and Arpels, described the stolen piece as a "triumph of white jewellery," but has yet to comment on the theft. Recent times have seen a surge in daring museum break-ins, including the infamous Louvre Museum robbery in Paris and the theft of Renaissance artworks from a Sicilian museum.