Masked men stole rhino heads and horns from Irish museum

A gang of thieves have stolen rhino heads and horns worth up to half a million euros (£428,000) from an Irish museum. Three masked men entered the National Museum Archives building in Dublin at about 22:40 BST on Wednesday and tied up a security guard.

The gang loaded the four heads, with eight horns, into a large white van. The security guard, who was not injured, managed to free himself and raise the alarm shortly after midnight.

A police spokesman said the building on Balheary Road, Swords, has been sealed off for forensic examination. An incident room has also been set up at Swords Garda (police) station and officers have appealed for information about the theft.

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Nigel Monaghan, keeper of the museum's natural history division, said staff had taken the decision to remove its rhino horn collection from public display in 2011, following a spate of "smash and grab" thefts from museums across Europe. The artifacts had been placed in the museum's storage facility in Swords for safe keeping when the thieves struck.