TORONTO -- A skilled jewel thief snatched $100,000 worth of opals from the Royal Ontario Museum, passing up more valuable jade and amethyst gems in the same display case, the museum's director said Thursday.
The thief evaded security foot patrols and cracked a sophisticated alarm system sometime between 9:00 p.m. EST Tuesday and 9:00 a.m. Wednesday morning, and opened a high-security display case to get the collection of 70 opals.
'There was no violent penetration of the security barriers on the perimeter of the building,' said museum director James Cruise. 'The person either remained in the building somewhere after closing, or else the person gained access to the building in some other way.
'The person was very adept and very professional, and either knew a great deal about security systems in general or about the Royal Ontario Museum's security system in particular.'
Police Staff Sgt. Richard Bennett agreed on the expertise needed for the heist from a case in the first floor mineralogy display.
'Whoever did it was an expert I'd say,' said Bennett. 'They have a very good alarm system. I wouldn't want to say whether it's an outside or inside job -- we haven't decided.'
Cruise said the theft came only days before the main building housing the opals was to be closed for renovations.
'The thief may have thought it was a last chance to act before valuable things were put in the vaults,' he said. 'They could have taken other things too, once gaining access to the display unit, which had other gems in it.
'Jade and amethyst and agate are items that were also in that area. I don't think the opals were outstandingly valuable, commercially, compared to the other items.'
Cruise said the jade and amethyst were 'tremendously valuable,' but could not estimate their value.
He speculated some special penchant for opals motivated the theft rather than a collector's interest.
'I think it boils down to a matter of personal preference,' said Cruise. 'Presumably, he or she has a thing for opals and is extremely happy today.'
'The person may have thought these gems, because of their size or polish, might be easier to market.
But he added, 'If he suddenly acquired a collection of 70 opals it would make him pretty outstanding among collectors.'
