Two British brothers who “meticulously” orchestrated a theft from a Swiss museum and fled with items worth nearly $5 million were sentenced to three and a half years in prison on Tuesday.
“They naively believed that they would escape any punishment after fleeing the country, but they did not expect that we would work closely with our Swiss colleagues to identify those involved,” the inspector commented on Tuesday, according to detective Matt Webb the British news agency PA Media.
Louis and Stewart Ahearne, aged 35 and 45 respectively, were sent to a Swiss prison on Tuesday for three and a half years each after pleading guilty to theft in Geneva court.
Their crime dates back to June 1, 2019, when the two men allegedly entered the Museum of Far Eastern Art in Geneva wearing gloves and masks and broke one of the front door windows before suffering the same fate in a display case with two vases and a Ming 15th century cup.
In total, the stolen items were worth more than 2.8 million pounds, the equivalent of $4.9 million.
Two British brothers have been jailed for stealing Ming Dynasty artifacts worth around £3 million from a Swiss museum.
Louis and Stewart Ahearne, of Greenwich, are accused of stealing two Chinese Ming Dynasty vases and a cup from the Baur Foundation, the Museum of the Far Eastern. pic.twitter.com/pv1tktuApk
— London Live (@LondonLive) January 17, 2024
“The Ahearne brothers carefully planned this break-in and carried out careful reconnaissance to ensure they were able to make a clean escape and bring the items back to the UK,” the detective continued, according to PA Media.
Except that the older of the two bandits left DNA at the crime scene, which the Swiss authorities immediately shared in international databases.
And with the help of surveillance cameras, they were able to identify the rented vehicle in which they fled and also identified the youngest child.
Britain's Metropolitan Police then reportedly took control and conducted a sting operation in which officers posed as art buyers to meet the thieves at a hotel in London.
Three other people, Mbaki Nkhwa, David Lamming and Kaine Wrigh, were also reportedly arrested and charged with possession of criminal property.
As far as the two brothers are concerned, after completing their sentences, they no longer have the right to turn to Switzerland for a period of five years. They also have to pay back 52,000 Swiss francs, which is more than $81,000.