Vanessa Trevelyan

Staff at Norwich’s Castle Museum helped foil four raiders who attempted to walk out with a rhino’s head in an audacious daylight theft bid.

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Police have launched an appeal for witnesses after four people, at least two of whom paid to enter the premises, broke into a case and took the heavy head out of the gallery before being disturbed by a curator who grabbed back the rhino head.

The raiders, all described as wearing dark coloured clothing, are believed to have left in a dark hatchback vehicle parked outside which was driven by a fifth person.

The attempted theft, at about 1pm on Monday, comes just months after a gang of thieves broke into Ipswich Museum overnight and stole the horn from the iconic exhibit Rosie the Rhino. That theft, last July, and this incident follow raids from museums in Europe including ones in Florence and Brussels.

Rhino horn is prized in Chinese medicine for its alleged aphrodisiac qualit-ies – and said to be twice as valuable as gold.

Vanessa Trevelyan, pictured, head of Norfolk Museums Service, praised staff for helping to prevent the theft of the rhino head which had been part of the stuffed animal collection since 1896. She said: “All staff are responsible for security. I would never wish them to put themselves in harm’s way but staff do feel very passionately about collections and felt able to step in in this case for which I’m very thankful.

“These guys probably thought Norwich was a bit of a sleepy place, but of all the museums targeted 
we’re the only one that has foiled this particular attempt.”

Mrs Trevelyan said the fact that the botched raid took place in broad daylight was testament to the museum’s night-time security systems.

She added that the head had now been locked away with the horn, to be replaced with a replica to deter future thefts.

Anyone with information about the theft attempt should call DC Carly Jermy on 101.