MELBOURNE, Australia -- Armed robbers thought to be international art thieves may have made away with up to $21 million this week in antiques and jewelry from a remote country estate, police said Sunday.
Five hooded bandits -- one of them a woman -- burst into the home of Jeff Lang, 61, at Yarra Glen, 25 miles east of Melbourne, Thursday night. The raiders held Lang, his wife Sandra, and their four children at gunpoint as they packed 30 gymnasium bags with jewels, antiques, coins, gold and ivory.
Police said the holdup was believed to have netted the bandits about $10 million, but much of it consisted of cut and polished opals which had not been valued. Estimates by experts put the value of the haul at about $21 million.
A spokesman said none of the stolen property was insured.
He said police are certain the gang has committed about 30 similar robberies during the past two years in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Canberra which has netted tens of millions of dollars.
'The gang is ruthless and violent,' said Inspector Brendan Cole, the chief of Victoria state's armed robbery squad.
He said as the gang cut telephone lines and ransacked the house, the woman bandit talked with the Langs about their family, correctly identifying them by name and personal details.
Cole said police theorized that five Europeans are masterminding the robberies, paying 'moles' in the art world a retainer for information on private collections.
Police said the stolen goods are shipped out of the country within 24 hours to Singapore and Bangkok, held there for months and then transferred to Amsterdam for sale to European millionaires.
Police said the theory is given credence by the arrest of four men at Amsterdam airport earlier this year when a Renoir painting stolen from a Melbourne home five years ago was seized.
Interpol, the international police agency, has been alerted and issued with a description of the stolen treasures, Cole said.
