Pallade Veneta - Losses from latest French museum heist estimated at 4.5 mln euros

The heist is the latest attack on a French museum following a spectacular raid at the Louvre museum in October last year and several other high-profile break-ins at cultural destinations.

Three thieves targeted the Lalique museum in Wingen-sur-Moder in northeastern France at around 5:30 am (0330 GMT) on Sunday, the local prosecutor François Antona said Monday in a statement.

The burglars "smashed six display cases with sledgehammers and hammers to seize 27 pieces of jewelry in just a few minutes," he added.

The museum, dedicated to the Art Nouveau and Art Deco jeweller and glassmaker Rene Lalique, was opened in 2011 near the company's factory.

The mayor of Wingen-sur-Moder, a town about 60 kilometres (37 miles)northwest of Strasbourg, has suggested a private security company employed by the museum was at fault.

"All the alarms went off, just as they should. And then with the security company, apparently, there was a major failure on their part: they didn't intervene right away, they didn't inform the gendarmes (police)," Christian Dorschner told local newspaper Les Dernieres nouvelles d’Alsace (DNA)

The spate of heists at French museums including at the Louvre has highlighted inadequate security in some cases and led to questions about whether criminal gangs see them as soft targets.

Thieves made off with $102 million worth of jewellery from the Louvre, including some of the old French crown jewels, in a raid that lasted less than eight minutes.

All members of the suspected four-person gang, who left a trail of DNA evidence behind them, have since been arrested and charged.

The whereabouts of the jewels is still unknown.

Z.Ottaviano--PV