By Bernard Bujold-
It was James Bond who said, “Diamonds are forever.”
After a group of four thieves brazenly broke into Paris’s Louvre Museum and stole in seven minutes a total of eight pieces of jewelry that form part of France’s crown jewels, the chase is on to find them before they filter into the black market.
The fear is that these historic artifacts could be simply dismantled and sold for parts.
Unlike Picasso paintings or Rolex watches, stolen gems can be broken out of their jewelry settings because such commodities retain a great value as precious metals and gems.
The clandestine global network for stolen art, including jewels and diamonds, trades billions of dollars’ worth of illicit pieces annually, according to the FBI, spanning diamond-cutting shops in Dubai and Delhi to jewelers in New York, Tel Aviv, and even Montréal.
To be continued...
SEE THE STORY IN THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
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