Thieves steal historic pendulum clocks from Le Locle museum

Thieves stole several historic pendulum clocks from the clock museum in Le Locle, Neuchâtel, early Sunday morning and fled across the border to France, SRF reported.

The burglary alarm was triggered at 6:14 a.m., according to the Neuchâtel public prosecutor’s office and police. A witness later reported seeing suspicious people.

Four masked people dressed in black forced open an entrance door on the north side of the building. They smashed the glass covers in two museum halls and took the clocks.

Less than five minutes later, the suspects were driving towards France in a dark sedan, where their trail was lost.

The museum remained closed on Sunday. Police deployed several patrols and a sniffer dog, while the Federal Office for Customs and Border Security and French authorities were alerted. The value of the stolen objects is still being determined.