by Marija Potkonjak, The Associated Press
PARIS - Slack security at some of Europe’s lesser-known, cash-strapped museums and galleries allowed an alleged thief to walk off with hundreds of millions of dollars worth of art before he was caught, an art expert said yesterday.
Stephane Breitwieser, the prime suspect in the theft of more than 172 artworks - including a painting with an estimated worth of at least $7.9 million - faced little resistance as he pilfered artworks over a six-year period, said Alexandra Smith of the London-based Art Loss Register, which keeps an international database of lost art and antiques.
“That’s the problem in Europe,” said Smith. “There’s little or no government funding, and as a result, security has to be cut back.”
Breitwieser allegedly hit museums in France, Switzerland, Belgium, Austria and Holland between 1995 and last year, stealing mostly items from the 17th and 18th centuries, French prosecutors in the eastern city of Strasbourg said.
They said experts estimated the total value of the stolen items at up to $912 million.
Breitwieser is believed to have avoided larger, national museums and stuck to smaller ones that cannot afford high-tech security systems, Smith said.
A government official who specializes in trafficking of cultural objects said it is impossible for every art institution to have the same security as the Louvre, France’s foremost museum.
“A little museum in a little village doesn’t have the means for such security,” the official said on condition of anonymity. “Besides, it’s a matter of striking a balance - if you have maximum security, that restricts the public’s access.”
Police in Strasbourg said Breitwieser’s mother, Mireille, 51, threw many of the stolen objects - statues, silver and dishes - into the Rhone du Rhin canal near the family home in the eastern Alsace region and slashed the stolen paintings to pieces when she learned her son had been arrested.
Police recovered many of the items from the canal, but the paintings apparently have been lost forever.