Burglars grab jewellery in lightning raid on France's Lalique museum

Burglars grabbed jewellery in a lightning ‌raid on a French museum holding works by luxury glassmaker Rene Lalique ‌and his family, staff there said, less than a year after a heist ​at the Louvre in Paris shocked the nation.

The masked thieves smashed through the door at Musee Lalique in the eastern Alsace region and took ​around 20 pieces, together worth several millions of euros, on Sunday morning, France ⁠Info and other media said.

The jewellery was taken “in a very ‌short ‌space ​of time,” the museum said on Instagram. The burglars set off security systems, staff had identified ⁠the missing pieces ​and police were studying CCTV footage ​as they launched a search, it added.

It did not ‌go into greater detail on ​what was stolen.

The museum in the town of Wingen-sur-Moder, ⁠60 km northwest of ⁠Strasbourg, ​houses more than 650 pieces, according to its website, including Art Nouveau jewellery, Art Deco glass and crystal.

Rene Lalique, who died aged 85 in 1945, began his career as a jeweller and was known for using “glass, enamel, horn, ivory and semi-precious stones in his creations,” ‌the website added.

“The museum ⁠will be closed for the forthcoming days in order to make sure it can then be re-opened ‌with full security,” it added.

Thieves broke into Paris’ world-famous Louvre museum last October. ​Several suspects have been arrested but ​the priceless exhibits have not been recovered. – Reuters