Museum burglaries in the European Union are no longer discreet, but are “evolving towards violent and forceful methods”, noted Europol in a report published on Monday 24 August.
Criminals are now using sledgehammers, axes, and explosives to access display cases and intimidate security staff, as seen in the attack on the Louvre Museum in Paris in late 2025.
Thieves are also increasingly targeting very high-value objects, like precious stones and metals and works of art with cultural value, due to their strong market demand and how easily they can be illegally resold.
The latest example occurred on Thursday 27 August, when nearly all of one of Europe’s largest Bronze Age gold and silverware collections was stolen from the Villena Museum in southern Spain. Described by local authorities as “ultra-professional ”, the burglary took barely five minutes, despite the heavy security and armour-plating systems, suggesting an organised crime group was involved. The stolen items are estimated to be worth more than €1.5 million.
According to Europol, this development signals the emergence of a new type of burglar: drawn in from organised crime rather than traditional art trafficking, these operatives are sometimes recruited in a decentralised way via social media, under a “crime-as-a-service” model.
To try and contain this threat, the agency is seeking to step up co-ordination between EU Member States through its European Serious and Organised Crime Centre (ESOCC).
See the report: https://aeur.eu/f/n5o (Original version in French by Justine Manaud)