THE British Museum is considering spending £2 million on upgrading
security after thieves stole precious antiques for the black market
abroad.
Police fear that the missing items, which include Persian book covers
and a Japanese chest, have been smuggled out of the country. The
artefacts were taken during a break-in at the museum's conservation
department.
The institution is now considering installing a further 160
closed-circuit television cameras to protect the museum's 30 miles of
corridors and six million artefacts.
The thefts, which the museum has been reluctant to publicise for fear
of attracting more problems, were revealed in its annual report to
Parliament. The rare Safavid book covers, honouring the Persian Kings
who brought the Shi'ite branch of Islam to Iran in the 16th Century,
were stolen last year. Experts at the museum believe that the covers
may have fetched £100,000 on the black market. A 17th-century Japanese
chest, worth around £110,000, disappeared at the same time. The black
lacquered box had been removed from display and was being repaired.
The thefts come four years after improvements were supposed to have
been made following the break-in by a drug addict who escaped with a
handful of Roman coins.
Officials are looking into the possibility of implementing the £2
million security measures suggested by Andrew Edwards, a former
Treasury official last winter. Head of Public Services at the museum,
Geoffrey House said: "We are constantly upgrading security. We will be
making a bid for more money from the Government."
Experts fear that British national collections are now regarded as
soft targets by foreign gangs. A Medici casket was stolen from the
Victoria and Albert Museum, 17th-century French bottles were taken
from the Ashmolean in Oxford and books snatched from Sir Walter
Scott's house in the Scottish borders.
BY AUDREY MAGEE, IRELAND CORRESPONDENT
IRISH antiques collectors are liaising with police in Britain in the
hope of retrieving some of the £5 million of antiques stolen from the
Republic every year.
They say they have "given up" on the Irish police, who have neither
the time nor resources to devote to the problem. Many of the stolen
pieces end up on market stalls in Newark, Nottinghamshire, and
Ardingly, West Sussex, within 48 hours. They fetch higher prices there
than in Ireland.
Investigators believe that most of the thefts are carried out by four
gangs of travellers, who use networks of friends and relations in
Britain to dispose of the stolen goods. The gangs are highly mobile
and knowledgeable.
Once stolen, the furniture is loaded on flatbed lorries, vans and
horseboxes, transferred to container lorries and taken by ferry to
Britain. Georgian pieces are the most lucrative, although garden
furniture, particularly Victorian, is also profitable.
Jeffry Lefroy, chairman of the Council for the Protection of Irish
Heritage Objects, said his organisation was dealing directly with
police in Britain. He said: "The problem of furniture theft has
reached epidemic proportions. We have no choice but to take action
ourselves."
A member of the council travelled undercover as a buyer to the market
in Newark. Assisted by Nottinghamshire police, he found a £5,000
Victorian clock, stolen last year from an elderly couple in Co
Kildare. The undercover buyer said: "The gardai are underpaid, worn
out and so overstretched trying to deal with the drug gangs in Dublin
that they have no time for the antiques problem."
Mr Lefroy set up the council two years ago after his Victorian home in
Co Longford was robbed and £150,000 of Regency, Dutch and Italian
furniture stolen. His 1740s Italian games table has been traced to an
auction house in New York. It arrived there from Surrey via an
antiques dealer in Alabama.
Irish police said the gangs were difficult to track because they moved
quickly from one area to another. Most thefts are concentrated on the
east coast, where the gangs have ready access to the ports. The Garda
are planning a meeting with British police to trace the antiques, and
are trying to identify the thieves' routes.
Charlie Hill, a former policeman and risk manager with the Nordstern
art insurance company in London, said: "I know of people in prison who
watch the Antiques Roadshow to educate themselves on what is valuable.
Antiques are now seen as far less dangerous than drugs, while still
generating the same kind of income."
copyright SECURMA The Netherlands
BOSTON (Reuter) - The two remaining priceless books stolen from the
Adams National Historic Site library in November have been recovered,
the FBI said Thursday.
``We're heartened by the fact that we've recovered all the books and
hope that someone will step forward and give us informaton that will
allow us to make an arrest and prosecute this case,'' FBI spokesman
Peter Ginieres said.
The two volumes, Block's Ichthyology, and what is believed to be the
1772 Holy Bible that belonged to President John Quincy Adams' wife,
Louisa Catherine, were found in a gym in the Massachusetts coastal
town of Salisbury, near the New Hampshire border.
Block's Ichthyology appeared to have sustained water damage, Ginieres
said. Agents concerned that the second volume was also damaged,
contacted the Library's curator who advised them not to examine the
book any further.
The volumes, now at the Boston FBI office, will remain in the bureau's
custody.
Thieves stole four books from the site, the home of Presidents John
Adams and his son, John Quincy Adams, on Nov. 11.
The FBI recovered two of the volumes Jan. 10, the 1839 Mendi Bible
given to John Quincy Adams, the nation's sixth president, by 53 Mendi
tribesmen he helped free after they mutunied while being transported
on a slave ship from West Africa to Cuba, and a Latin version of the
King James Bible printed in 1621. Those books were found in a locker
at a Portsmouth, N.H., gym.
The FBI named Kevin Gildea, 41, who pleaded guilty 15 years ago to
receiving stolen goods, as the main suspect in the Adams Libary theft
at a February court hearing, but have not charged him with the crime.
REUTER 17:50 04-24-97
(24 Apr 1997 17:49 EDT)
copyright SECURMA The Netherlands
April 27 1997
by John Harlow and Jonathan Leake
THE British Museum has been targeted by thieves handpicking unique
artefacts for foreign collectors, prompting fears that security at the
world's most famous historic collection urgently needs strengthening.
The valuables, which include rare Persian book covers and a Japanese
chest, have disappeared from the museum's conservation department.
Police fear they have already been smuggled abroad.
The thefts, which the museum has been reluctant to publicise for fear
of attracting other gangs, have prompted the institution to consider
spending £2m on 160 closed-circuit television cameras (CCTV) to
protect 30 miles of corridor and 6m rarely checked objects.
Warders say the reported losses are the tip of the iceberg. One
insider said staff were never searched when leaving, even if they were
carrying suitcases. "We all know objects routinely disappear as
'souvenirs' - a mummified cat or old coin from basements where the
stock has not been audited for decades. Most losses are not noticed,
never mind reported," said the employee.
The British Museum is not unique. A priceless Medici casket was stolen
from the Victoria and Albert Museum, 17th-century French bottles were
snatched from the Ashmolean in Oxford and rare books plundered from
Sir Walter Scott's house in the Scottish borders.
Experts fear that Britain's world-famous national collections are now
regarded as soft targets by foreign gangs. Thirty-three reported
thefts last year prompted the government's Museums & Galleries
Commission to write the first security manual, to be distributed later
this year.
The latest thefts from the British Museum are revealed in a report
prepared for parliament, which shows that in 1995-96 antiquities worth
more than £200,000 were stolen.
Security was supposed to have been overhauled in 1993 when a drug
addict broke into the building and removed a fistful of Roman coins.
The Safavid book covers that were stolen last year honour the Persian
kings who introduced the Shi'ite branch of Islam to Iran in the 16th
century and are believed to have been removed from an unguarded shelf.
Warders say the theft was not spotted for 24 hours and it was still
unclear whether it was a break-in or an "inside job". The museum
estimates that the covers may have fetched £100,000 on the black
market.
A 17th-century black lacquered chest from Japan disappeared around the
same time. The chest, worth up to £110,000, had been removed from
display for repairs in a British Museum workshop allegedly only
accessible to staff. Last winter a report by Andrew Edwards, a former
Treasury official, suggested £2m needed to be spent on upgrading
security. Andrew Hamilton, a museum spokesman, said the Edwards report
was still under scrutiny.
"The thefts of the book covers and chest have taught us how to improve
security in the conservation areas. That kind of theft is very rare
and will not happen again. Meanwhile, while coping with government
grant cuts, we are improving overall security as quickly as we can,"
Hamilton said.
copyright SECURMA The Netherlands
A MINIATURE beetle with a taste for glue has infested a Caravaggio masterpiece in the Irish National Gallery. A visitor to the Dublin gallery last week spotted an insect as she stood admiring The Taking of Christ, an Italian baroque painting considered by many to be Caravaggio's best work. She alerted a nearby guard, saying "You may think I am mad, but . . ." Staff investigated and found an infestation of tiny insects eating the glue used in the 1993 restoration of the painting. Raymond Keaveney, the director of the gallery, said the flea-sized insects had picked the gallery's most treasured painting: "There are hundreds of paintings to choose from, but for some reason it had to be our Caravaggio." Worth about £30 million, The Taking of Christ was long believed to be by the 17th-century Dutch artist Gerrit van Honthorst. In 1990 it was attributed to Caravaggio and restored. It is believed that the beetles were attracted to the Caravaggio because the glue used to re-line it was organic-based, soft and easy to chew. They did not damage the original canvas. Mr Keaveney said: "We spend all our time worrying about men in balaclavas coming in to steal our paintings and then you find this tiny thing wreaking havoc. In many ways they are a lot more destructive." The biscuit beetle is not an uncommon pest in libraries and art galleries where materials are often very dry and easy to eat. Measuring up to 2.5mm in length, it is known by a number of names, including the bread beetle. In the US it is called the drug-store beetle. It is similar to the weevil. Red-brown in colour, it is indigenous to the British Isles and its Latin name is Stegobium paniceum. The adults are able to fly. The biscuit beetle caused alarm in 1990 when it was found in a National Trust Library in Cornwall. It was found among the 5,000 rare 16th and 17th-century religious books in the library in Lanhydrock House near Bodmin. The beetles feed on the dried flour paste used in old books and on the leather bindings. The National Trust believed at the time that they had been carried into the library on cut flowers. According to Lee Rogers, an entomologist at the Natural History Museum in London, they are voracious and libraries need to be regularly cleaned and aired to deter them.
copyright SECURMA The Netherlands
April 17, 1997
By MICHAEL R. GORDON
MOSCOW -- In a drab concrete building just off the road to Sheremetyevo Airport lies a huge trove of European history.
The archive includes papers seized by the Soviet army from the Nazis, who looted Europe's capitals during World War II. Among the papers are everything from the French government's most private memorabilia to documents captured from the Nazis themselves.
Now, the fate of these archives and the "trophy art" looted by the Nazis has become the focus of a white-hot political debate here, with nationalists demanding that Russia keep the material for itself.
After months of hand-wringing over NATO expansion, the issue has emerged as one of Russia's most vexing foreign policy quandaries.
With European countries demanding the return of their property, Russian President Boris Yeltsin arrived in Germany on Wednesday for talks Thursday with German Chancellor Helmut Kohl.
Just before he left Moscow, Yeltsin suggested that he would defy Parliament and make a symbolic restitution of several items to Kohl.
Although much of the attention has focused on the stolen art, officials at the archive near the Moscow airport said their files had a lasting importance to the nations from which they were taken.
"The historical significance is gigantic," said Mansur M. Mukhamedzhanov, the chief archivist of the document collection. "It is like an excursion to the capitals of Western Europe. Just sitting here, you can have a complete picture of the economic situation, diplomacy and culture in these countries during the first half of the century."
Nationalists in Russia's raucous Parliament appear less interested in strengthening ties with Germany than in trying to even the score for the Soviet property and lives lost in World War II.
"They annihilated 26 million Russian citizens and we have to pay them?" Vladimir V. Zhirinovksy, the Russian ultranationalist leader, exclaimed Wednesday. "Poor Germans! They are scoundrels, fascists."
The issue has a long and tangled history. During World War II, Germany seized government archives, paintings, books and other works of art throughout occupied Europe. The Soviet Union brought much of the treasure home at the end of the war, justifying the seizure as a form of war reparations.
"The Russians lost so many of their cultural monuments during the war and had so many people killed that they felt they had a right to take German property," said Elizabeth Simpson, an associate professor at Bard College's Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts and the editor of "The Spoils of War," a comprehensive study of the seizure of the "trophy art."
But the Russian move, she said, was never sanctioned by the Allied authorities and violated international law.
For decades Russia's possession of much of the cache was a closely held secret. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia become more open about its collection.
That did not mean that Russia was prepared to return the treasure. In fact, some of Russia's finest museums are still brimming with the looted art.
The Pushkin State Museum in Moscow has proudly displayed Priam's Treasure from ancient Troy. Recovered by German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann in 1873, it was stored in the Prussian State Museum before World War II.
The Pushkin museum and the Hermitage in St. Petersburg are rich in trophy art. Indeed, the list of captured paintings amounts to a who's who of Old Masters, Impressionists and other great Western artists.
There are works by Rembrandt, Duerer, Matisse, Cezanne, Van Gogh, Goya, Renior and Daumier. The Russians also acquired a Gutenberg Bible.
At the Center for the Preservation of Historical-Documentary Collections, Mukhamedzhanov tends a collection that includes looted government archives from Western and Eastern European countries.
Through the Soviet period, the collection was accessible only to the KGB and other security forces. But now the archive is open to foreign scholars, and it relies on proceeds from microfilming to help stay afloat.
The center returned much of its French holdings before nationalists in Parliament forced a halt to the transfer. But other European collections still languish on the shelf.
Though Mukhamedzhanov says he is doing his best to preserve documents, the archive is strapped for cash. Its employees are paid only 300,000 rubles (about $53) a month, making it impossible to recruit staff members with the foreign language skills needed to catalogue and organize the papers. The archive is sometimes chilly, as the government does not pay the heating bill.
But these sorts of practical problems do not weigh heavily on the mind of nationalists and Communists in Parliament, which has locked horns with the Russian president.
An overwhelming majority of the lower house of Parliament has already declared the archives and the trophy art to be Russian property, blocking its return. When Yeltsin vetoed the measure, the lower house overrode the veto by an overwhelming vote of 308-15.
The upper house was scheduled to vote on whether to override Yeltsin's veto Wednesday. But, fearful of an embarrassing defeat on the eve of Yeltsin's talks in Germany with Kohl, nervous Kremlin aides persuaded the legislators to put off their vote.
The upper house said the vote could be delayed until May, and Yeltsin has vowed to appeal to the Constitutional Court if he loses.
Caught between frustrated European governments and an angry Parliament, Yeltsin has sought to finesse the issue by promising a a symbolic restitution during his German trip. Kohl has long been Yeltsin's closest Western counterpart, and Germany accounts for much of Russia's foreign trade.
"Not the Troy gold, of course," Yeltsin told the German magazine Stern. "But I will bring some other items with me."
But in an issue in which symbolism is often indistinguishable from substance, the gesture sparked howls of complaints.
Nikolai Gubenko, the Parliament member and former culture minister who has been spearheading the effort to prevent the return of the treasure, was among the most voluable.
To make a symbolic restitution, he said, will be "to spit on the grave of the 27 million Soviet people" killed in World War II.
(New York Times)
copyright SECURMA The Netherlands
WASHINGTON (Reuter) - An exhibition of treasures from Russia's imperial past was stranded in a truck and in a museum's vault on Monday as lawyers wrangled over control of the priceless show.
The collection, including art works, costumes and some of the world's biggest gems, was due to be shown in several U.S. cities thoughout this year, starting with a successful show at Washington's Corcoran Gallery of Art, which has just ended.
But Russia now says it wants the treasures back for Moscow's 850th birthday celebration in May, according to the Corcoran.
The American organisers of the exhibition refuse to deliver them to the Russian Embassy, citing a contract with the Russian government.
``This needs to be decided by a court,'' said David Levy, president and director of the Corcoran Gallery.
Levy has locked away the Romanov jewels in a vault and is sitting tight until he gets a court order or a written agreement about where they go next.
``I hope it doesn't get to that,'' worries James Symington, head of the Washington-based American Russian Cultural Cooperation Foundation, which raised $550,000 to mount the exhibition. ``My hope is to get this rascal back on track.''
Jack and Marcy Eschenbach hope so too. Hired to bring the exhibition to Houston for the next stop on a planned tour, they have been sleeping in their moving van on a side street near the gallery since last Wednesday.
Cars manned round-the-clock by drivers from the Russian Embassy blocked them in until Monday, when agreement was reached to drive the truck to a more secure parking area where it can be better guarded, museum officials said.
Symington said Moscow representatives are appealing to ``the highest levels of government'' to restore the seven-museum tour that his organisation has contracted to provide.
``It was the Russian's idea for the tour,'' he said. ``It's not ours.''
``It was a sensation at the Corcoran,'' he said, noting that ``Jewels of the Romanovs: Treasures of the Imperial Court'' drew over 80,000 visitors during a stay that ended last week.
That's when the trouble began.
Symington attributes it to a dispute over revenue, not to Moscow's need for the jewels back home.
He said the deal with Russia's Culture ministry was to split revenues after expenses were paid, but said Russian officials were now telling him that that arrangement was not acceptable. ``It doesn't satisfy them,'' Symington said.
But John Millian, a lawyer retained by the Russian Embassy, denied that profits were the motive.
``The issue is not money,'' he said. ``The issue is shared responsibility to manage the project. The foundation has refused to enter into an agreement for joint control.''
All sides in the dispute spent the weekend trying to arrange a meeting of their lawyers.
Symington said it was a good sign when he could not reach his lawyer on Monday morning. ``Maybe she is talking to someone about this,'' he said.
Reut23:34 04-21-97
(21 Apr 1997 23:35 EDT)
copyright SECURMA The Netherlands
(see also: Russian Treasures Tied up in Legal Knot and Romanov Jewels Delivered to Russian Embassy April 29, 1977 Russian Treasures Headed for Houston May 2, 1997) Corcoran press release on the Romanov exhibition
A "COLD War" has broken out between America and Russia over loaned treasures from the Romanov dynasty.
Moscow has ordered its diplomats to do whatever is necessary to stop the jewels leaving Washington for an exhibition in Texas. The Russians want the items to be flown home immediately. But the Americans are refusing to send them back on the grounds that they had been given permission to put them on show around the United States for two years.
While the really expensive items - diamonds and icons which belonged to the Tsars - are locked in a vault at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, near the White House, portraits and costumes, including a dress worn by Catherine the Great, are trapped in an air-conditioned removal van in the street outside.
Five days ago, when they were loaded up, ready to go to the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, the Russians blocked them in. They parked a car in front of the pantechnicon and one behind. Both have diplomatic number plates and can stay there as long as they like without being towed away. Russian diplomats are taking turns camping out in the front seats of the cars.
In the lorry, the driver, Jack Eschenbach, with his co-driver, his wife Marcy, are also staying put, reading and watching a mini-television. Mr Eschenbach said: "I never leave my cargo." Four couriers, who came to pick up the diamonds, have parked themselves inside the gallery.
Officials at the State Department, who have conferred with Yuli Vorontsov, the Russian ambassador, have been scratching their heads, trying to sort out the mess.
David Levy, director of the Corcoran, said: "It's ironic, because the exhibit was about American-Russian cultural co-operation."
It is the first time that the Russian government has allowed the artefacts to travel to the United States. The collection - Jewels of the Romanovs; Treasures of the Russian Imperial Court - was on display at the Corcoran from late January until April 13. It includes a bracelet containing the world's largest table-cut diamond, an egg-sized stone known as Caesar's Ruby and a 260-carat Ceylon sapphire. In all there are 115 jewels and uncut gems. Apart from the precious stones, there are sumptuous court gowns, including one valued at £6.5 million from the era of Peter the Great, as well as a cross for the Order of Alexander Nevsky.
The original deal to bring them to America was negotiated through the American Russian Cultural Co-operation Foundation, which seeks to improve arts ties between the two countries. The chairman, James Symington, said: "We were hoping this would flower a whole set of good feelings between peoples. It isn't working that way at the moment."
The idea was to commemorate the 125th anniversary of Grand Duke Alexis's visit to America at the invitation of President Ulysses S Grant. He said that up to £2 million in corporate and individual gifts, museum fees and security costs may be lost if the rest of the tour has to be cancelled.
The Houston museum has paid £100,000 to stage the exhibition, which was a sell-out at the Corcoran, attracting 80,000 visitors.
Mr Symington said that his group thought that it could keep the jewels for about two years. After Texas, they were due to go on show in Memphis and San Diego, with a possible exhibition in New York. Mr Symington said he had been told that the Russian Organising Committee, a Moscow-based group, had demanded that the treasures be returned to celebrate the 850th anniversary of the founding of the capital.
The committee is reportedly a liaison group with the Russian ministry of culture, appointed by Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin. Mr Symington said the Russian committee had been paid £248,000 for the exhibitions so far.
After consulting lawyers, the Corcoran is hanging on to the treasures until a court order or an agreement is obtained. Mr Levy said: "We're in the crossfire. These are the Russian state jewels. We want to be satisfied that when we release them, we are releasing them to the right party."
Russian officials, including the director of the Kremlin's diamond fund and representatives of museums that contributed various pieces for the exhibition, have flown to Washington to try to secure the return of the treasures.
But many American officials suspect that the row is all about money. Quoting sources close to the exhibition, the Washington Post said that the Russian Organising Committee was hoping to seize control of the show and reap the financial rewards.
Anotoly Zubeknin, a Russian cultural affairs official, believed to be in command of the operation in Washington, said the foundation was not living up to its agreement with Moscow and there was concern about security being inadequate. "There's no more trust there," he said.
Mihhail Maslov, first secretary of the embassy, who yesterday was sitting in one of the diplomatic cars blockading the removal van, said: "It's a very stupid situation."
copyright SECURMA The Netherlands
Re: new form of theft in Museums (response appreciated)
Contrary to intellectuals and the media, thieves are often better risk managers than those
who manage cultural institutions, and many police departments would agree. I realize that
thieves and potential thieves read these open discussion lists, but maybe this kind of
response can affect some naive, honest protectors to better protect our cultural
institutions. ((Don't forget to read the very last line of this, too.))
THIEVES IN GENERAL, AS WELL AS MUSEUM THIEVES, TAKE OBJECTS THAT THEY KNOW THEY CAN SELL
(SIMPLE CASH IS THE PRIMARY MOTIVATION), BY OR FROM THE AREA LEAST PROTECTED, WITH THE LEAST
RISK OF BEING CAUGHT: -stealing cultural objects that can be easily sold for a profit by
street value, as theft to order, or as objects very difficult to uniquely identify. This
occurs when institution managers do not protect their high value, easily-sold cultural
object targets sufficiently. -stealing cultural objects using the lowest risks possible for
the greatest profit, escalating the risk when there is a similar risk of high profit.
Thieves follow the path of least protection, least resistance, and least risk.
MANAGERS can look at their collections like a thief would in order to improve the protection
on objects that can most easily be sold for money on the street and in the unsuspecting shop
in the next city or country. MANAGERS can look at their facilities like a thief in order to
improve the protection of the most apparently easy means to remove property without being
caught.
FIRST, THIEVES GENERALLY CHOOSE BURGLARY as the lowest risk approach, often by night, often
over weekends, holidays and closed periods:
* National Gallery, Oslo, NORWAY on 12 February 1994: Burglary by ladder in the early
morning to a first floor window. * Museum of Modern Art, Stockholm, SWEDEN, 6-7 November
1993: early morning breakin cutting through the roof. * Castle Museum of Weimar, GERMANY on
12 October 1992: Burglary by breaking open a grated window. * Archeological Museum in
Corinth, GREECE on 12 April 1990: burglary through the roof, with no guards or alarms. *
National Museum of Natural History of Mexico City, MEXICO, on 24 December 1988: burglary by
thieves entering during the night through ventilation ducts, working around guards in the
building. * Kröller Muller Museum in Otterloo, NETHERLANDS on 12 December 1988 AND two other
Dutch museums that year: burglary through an unalarmed window, generally in the rear. *
Munch Museum in Oslo, NORWAY on 23 February 1988: Burglary by entering through an unalarmed
ground window at night. * Colnaghi Art Gallery, New York City, USA on 8 February 1988:
Thieves entered an unalarmed skylight and tripped an inside alarm at night. * Noortman Art
Gallery in Maastricht, NETHERLANDS on 16-17 February 1987: thieves entered through an
unalarmed rear round window, with no guards or alarms. * Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest,
HUNGARY on 5 November 1983: Burglary, entry by means unknown.
MANAGERS: Look for weaknesses in physical security barriers, such as walls, windows, doors,
and fences, especially in areas without alarms, guards, or areas where a breakin is not
noticeable. Look for a better means to stop and detect burglary at building openings not
easily seen by police or the public, during closed hours and at night, on your roofs, doors
and windows that are locked but not alarmed. MANAGERS: Look for weaknesses for burglary when
a staff decides to help the burglar with sensitive information, especially from a trusted
staff.
(When there is apparently good physical security...)
SECOND, THIEVES GENERALLY CHOOSE THEFT OR ROBBERY BY DECEPTION: stealing by deceiving the
guards, such as by hiding as a STAYBEHIND in the building, or ROBBERY, STARTED AS A
DECEPTION, then by unarmed or armed robbery:
* Schirn Gallery of Frankfurt, GERMANY on 28 July 1994: Robbery using staybehinds hiding in
the building at closing time. * Van Gogh Museum of Amsterdam, NEDERLANDS 15 April 1991:
robbery from a staybehind who admitted accomplices in the early morning. * Gardner Museum,
Boston, Massachusetts, USA on 18 March 1990: Robbers entered at night dressed as policemen.
* Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, NETHERLANDS on 20 May 1988: Burglary by breaking a ground
window during the night, with no guards or alarms. * Municipal Museum of Rosario, Rosario,
ARGENTINA on 24 March 1987: Robber posed as deliveryman to museum guards to enter at night
and pulled a gun.
MANAGERS can look for weaknesses in physical security barriers, personnel control and
property removal during an emergency, an evacuation, or other unusual occurrence. Prepare
guards and staff to be suspicious of theft by deception especially at these times. MANAGERS
can look for weaknesses for burglary and theft when a staff decides to help the burglar or
thief with sensitive information, especially from a trusted staff.
(When physical security appears strong, and when guards and police response appears
strong...) THIRDLY, THIEVES GENERALLY CHOOSE SIMPLE ROBBERY, ESPECIALLY "SMASH AND GRAB"
ROBBERY, EVEN ARMED ROBBERY WITH THE LEAST RISK, currently using surprise, speed, daring,
and innovation: * Armed Robbery at Marmottan Museum in Paris, FRANCE on 27 October 1985: a
bank-style armed robbery at opening time. * Smash and grab tactics began with shop windows
on the street for jewelers and expensive equipment store operators, from using automobiles
to crash exterior doors at a remote location to smashing exhibit cases, or running out with
objects to a waiting automobile.
MANAGERS can look what they can do immediately at the exterior door to stop, delay or
document\photograph a non violent theft, to stop, delay or document\photograph a violent
theft, and to stop, delay or document\photograph a violent theft with weapons. Instruct
staff for their physical safety as well. MANAGERS can look what they can do to harden these
targets or move them to a more protected area from which it is more difficult to escape.
(When thieves consider physical security strong, guard and police response strong, and
inside information very available...) FOURTHLY, THIEVES CHOOSE SOPHISTICATED THEFTS THE
LEAST: a complicated entry, timing, evasion or defeat of alarms, guards, and closed circuit
television.
* Headley-Whitney Museum in Lexington, Kentucky, USA on 17/7/1994: Burglary involving the
disarming of alarms. * American Museum of Natural History in the 1970's: Burglary with
careful avoidance of alarms, known as the Topkapi theft.
MANAGERS: Look for weaknesses for burglary and theft when a staff decides to help the
burglar or thief with sensitive information, especially from a trusted staff. In the
complicating world of diverse modern equipment and electronic devices, clever staff can find
a means to defeat most any systems with specialized security information.
MANAGERS CAN BE PREPARED TO ACT WHEN WE DISCOVER A LOSS: Insist on every loss being reported
to police authorities. Persuade authorities to publicize the loss because it greatly
increases the opportunity for recovery of the objects. Protect the scene and notify your
local police and law enforcement or investigation departments as soon as possible. Use
press coverage to your advantage. Let insurance companies announce rewards if they wish.
Determine the last time the lost objects were seen and what happened in the area or to the
objects since then. Establish a maximum amount of time that an object can be considered
missing before it is reported. Gather documents, descriptions and photographs of what is
missing and instruct the police what they are looking for. Follow up on police actions and
investigations to ensure that everything possible is being done. Educate police what to look
for.
MANAGERS WHO DO NOT LEARN WILL CONTINUE TO BE VULNERABLE, AND EVENTUALLY, VICTIMS.
copyright SECURMA The Netherlands
SOTHEBY'S, the world's largest fine art auction house, has sold two missing drawings allegedly misappropriated by Asil Nadir, the disgraced Polly Peck tycoon. Art crime investigators in London discovered that the 19th-century works, which Nadir bought for nearly £200,000 and have since been the focus of an international search by his creditors, were to be auctioned by Sotheby's in New York two months ago. One was identified only by damage to its unique frame because Sotheby's had given the drawing a new name in its catalogue, that described both works as the "property of a European private collector". In fact, Nadir's bankruptcy trustees say, the drawings were not his to sell and he may have been committing a criminal offence in trying to profit from them. The sale came in February just one week after Sotheby's suspended two of its staff following allegations that they had arranged the illegal export of old masters from Italy to Britain and created false paperwork to conceal the origin of items. Richard Wright, of Linklaters & Paines, a London solicitor acting for Nadir's trustee-in-bankruptcy, confirmed that Sotheby's had been asked to freeze money raised by the sale until the ownership of the drawings had been legally established. Wright said that Aysegul Tecimer, Nadir's ex-wife, has claimed the drawings belong to her. She was convicted of antiques smuggling in Turkey last month and given a 4 1/2 -year prison sentence in absentia. She is said to be living in Florida and remains close to Nadir. He claims that he bought the drawings for his ex-wife and that she has since repaid him. "We do not accept this version of events," Wright said. "We would like to question Mr and Mrs Nadir and the trustees will take legal action to establish their claims." It is understood that the works were paid for, not by Nadir himself, but through Polly Peck accounts. Polly Peck collapsed in 1990 with debts of £1.4 billion. A Sotheby's official said the auction house knew Nadir's ex-wife had put the drawings up for sale and that it was aware they had both been originally purchased by her ex-husband. However, the company said it did not investigate ownership but relied on the word of the seller who indemnified the company against errors. Sotheby's added that it had been alerted by Nadir's trustees after the drawings had been entered into the catalogue but before the auction itself. It said the auction had proceeded with the knowledge and approval of the trustees. Nadir fled Britain in 1993 for Turkish northern Cyprus facing charges of fraud and false accounting involving more than £30m. He has since reportedly run into financial difficulties and has tried to dispose of assets in Turkey and Cyprus. The sale of the drawings is seen as part of an attempt to raise quick sums of cash. The sale was identified by the Art Loss Register, a private company in London that runs an investigation service to recover lost or stolen works of art. The two drawings are by the Belgian artist Fernand Khnopff: one is Etude de Femme (Study of Woman), a drawing in pencil and black chalk. It was described as "dessin" (sketch) in the catalogue, but was recognised by a distinctive scratch on the frame. The most famous work owned by Nadir was Sisters by the Victorian master Frederic, Lord Leighton. It is worth as much as £1m and among several that are still missing and which Nadir's trustees are anxious to secure.
copyright SECURMA The Netherlands