French prosecutors said on Tuesday that a woman from China had been charged with stealing gold from a leading museum last month, as the authorities try to reassure the public after several thefts from top cultural institutions.
The Paris prosecutor, Laure Beccuau, said in a statement that a 24-year-old woman had been arrested in Barcelona for the theft of about 13 pounds of gold nuggets from the National Museum of Natural History in Paris. She was also charged with criminal conspiracy.
The woman — whom the authorities have not identified — left France on the day of the theft, Sept. 16, and planned to return to China until she was arrested two weeks later, Ms. Beccuau said. At the time of her arrest, she was attempting to dispose of just over two pounds of melted gold, the prosecutor added.
The announcement came as the authorities continue to search for the thieves behind a jewelry heist at the Louvre Museum on Sunday. Robbers stole eight pieces of jewelry, including a royal tiara and other materials worn by Empress Eugénie, the wife of Napoleon III.
Last month, before the theft at the natural history museum, porcelain worth millions, were stolen from a museum in Limoges, in central France.
Art crime experts say there has been a spike in so-called commodity thefts, with thieves stealing museum pieces for their gems and precious stones to break them up and sell, as the price of gold has reached historic levels.
Video surveillance at the natural history museum showed that the suspect broke in at around 1 a.m., Ms. Beccuau said. The gold nuggets were housed in the geology and mineralogy gallery, which includes meteorites, rocks, crystals and other minerals.
Two doors were cut with an angle grinder and a display case was broken, the statement added. Later that morning, a cleaner found the debris and alerted a curator, who discovered that the objects had been stolen. The pieces included gold that was donated by Czar Nicholas I of Russia in 1833, nuggets discovered during the California gold rush and items from Bolivia and Australia.
The suspect was being held in pretrial detention, and the authorities were trying to identify if she had any accomplices. If convicted, she could be sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Damages from the theft were estimated at 1.5 million euros, or about $1.7 million, as well as about $58,000 in property damage, Ms. Beccuau said.
Aurelien Breeden contributed reporting from Paris.
Amelia Nierenberg is a Times reporter covering international news from London.
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