Louvre heist is part of a treasure-grabbing criminal pattern

A ladder truck, an angle-grinder, a maxi-scooter, and seven minutes. That appears to be all it took for thieves to nab priceless jewellery from the Louvre, the world’s most-visited museum. The museum’s vulnerability adds to the country’s sense of malaise, and fingers are being pointed over apparent security flaws. But it speaks to something much broader, too: Criminals’ boundless hunger for gold and other precious metals and gems – not fine art – as the value of these commodities soars. Museum raids are becoming ever more audacious as the gold price has doubled in a year – and jumped tenfold in two decades. A stampede of investors fleeing er…