Crime gangs around Europe were increasingly robbing valuable jewels and gold from cash-needy museums like the Louvre, but while law enforcement often caught thieves, they struggled to recover the priceless goods, police and art experts have said.

Only a small pool of criminals would be capable of such a job as Sunday’s audacious robbery in Paris and may already be known to police, the specialists said. But the objects themselves could be quickly broken down into component parts and sold on.

“If I steal a Van Gogh, it’s a Van Gogh. I can’t dispose of it through any other channel than an illicit art market,” said Marc Balcells, a Barcelona-based expert in crimes against cultural heritage. “But when I am stealing … jewellery, I can move it through an illicit market as precious stones.”

The brazen heist of crown jewels from the Louvre, the world’s most visited museum, has been decried by some as a national humiliation and sparked security checks across France’s multitude of cultural sites.

“If you target the Louvre, the most important museum in the world, and then get away with the French crown jewels, something was wrong with security,” said art investigator Arthur Brand.