Dutch art thieves were no 'Ocean's 11' team

Associated Press SHARE

By TOBY STERLING, Associated Press
















The thieves may "wake up and realize they can't sell the paintings easily" now that museums around the world have been alerted to their theft, said Chris Marinello, of the Art Loss Register.

But the thieves may also sell them on the black market for a fraction of their true value, or try to extract money from insurers in exchange for returning them.

Anthony Roman, a New York-based security analyst, said the Kunsthal's level of defenses appeared so basic as to be "astounding," given the value of the art it was housing. He said an alarm system alone would never be enough to stop criminals.

Thieves "learn the distance the police have to travel," he said. "They understand the mechanism and the amount of time between when the alarm goes off and the time of a physical presence of law enforcement."

Security expert Cremers said the museum was not at fault for relying on cameras and motion detectors, rather than human guards. Having guards on site is costly, and they would be instructed not to confront robbers during a break-in anyway.

"The only thing they can do is call police," he said.

Cremers said the museum should have looked at ways to slow potential thieves down. That might have prevented them from attempting to break in in the first place, or at least limited the size of their haul.

He said the paintings should have been hung inside behind a second makeshift wall with doors, creating a "box within a box" in the gallery. In addition, the museum could have set up a barrier or fence preventing cars from being able to drive up right to the emergency doors.

"I'm sure they'll be looking at that now," he said.

Later Wednesday, museum spokeswoman Mariette Maaskant confirmed that the museum was installing stone planter boxes big enough to block cars "as an extra security measure."


AP reporter Lori Hinnant contributed to this story from Paris.
