Audacious Thieves Hit Italian Palace, Taking Millions in Jewelry

The jewels belonged to a Qatari royal family member.

Thieves took overcame an alarm system to take jewelry from an exhibition at the Ducal Palace in Venice, Italy, The New York Times reports.

The pieces — a pair of earrings and a gold brooch — were the property of Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah al-Thani of Qatar’s royal family.

By some accounts, the jewelry may be worth “as much as several million euros,” the Times reports. (That’s despite the fact that their value was listed on a customs form as about $36,000.)

Two or more thieves were involved in the crime, authorities say. They struck at 10 a.m. Wednesday, somehow bypassing what’s said to have been a sophisticated alarm system and then disappearing into a crowd.

Vito Gagliardi, chief of Venice’s police department, is quoted saying the criminals must have had “advanced technological understanding” to overcome the security measures.

Read more at The New York Times