How Two Students Stole Historical Artifacts Worth Millions of Dollars From a Museum in Mexico

Unprecedented Robbery

In 1985, a robbery shook the entire country of Mexico. The National Museum of Anthropology (MNA) was looted by two students from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), during the Christmas of 1985, and sent authorities to a chase like never before, EL PAIS reported. The students, later identified as Carlos Perches Treviño and Ramón Sardina García, took approximately three hours to steal items worth millions of dollars from the rooms dedicated to the Maya, Mixteca, and Mexica civilizations.

Carlos Perches Treviño and Ramón Sardina García 

Carlos Perches Treviño and Ramón Sardina García were veterinary students from UNAM and had no previous criminal records, EL PAIS reported. Both of them had an interest in archeology and pre-Hispanic art, which led to them spending a large amount of time in the National Museum of Anthropology. To this date, nobody knows what triggered these two then-21-year-old individuals to rob the museum. They thoroughly checked out all the aspects of this grand museum located between Paseo de la Reforma and Mahatma Gandhi Street, within Chapultepec Park in Mexico City. After all their analysis they chose Christmas Day to go through with their plan. 

The MNA Robbery

The robbery commenced at 1 a.m. on December 25, 1985, and lasted till 4 a.m., EL PAIS reported. Treviño and García entered through the air conditioning ducts, to avoid the security cameras and alarms. During those three hours, the security personnel did not patrol the premises, as they were busy, celebrating Christmas. The robbers took with them 124 pieces, which included objects from the sacred cenote of Chichén Itzá, more than 60 Mayan pieces from the Temple of Palenque, gold jewelry from the Mixteca room, and the famous mask of the Zapotec Bat God, among others. After coming out of the premises, the two robbers went to Perches’ parents’ house, located in the Jardines de San Mateo suburb, in a Volkswagen vehicle. They stored the pieces in a closet, in the house. The value of each of these pieces was in the millions, according to Felipe Solís — curator of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH).

Breakthrough in Investigation

For four years, authorities found no clue regarding the robbers or the stolen pieces. Their breakthrough came in the form of drug trafficker Salvador Gutiérrez, EL PAIS reported. The trafficker got arrested in January 1989, and in hopes of reducing his sentence provided information about Perches and how he was trying to sell some items from the MNA loot. Perches and Gutierrez met in Acapulco, where the 'loot' was allegedly discussed. Javier Coello Trejo, a deputy prosecutor tracked all calls between Gutiérrez and Perches when the former was in prison and caught them discussing one of "the greatest art [collections] in Mexico." This development gave authorities enough evidence to pursue Perches.

Recovery of Items

On June 10, 1989, police went through Perches' parents' house and recovered 111 of the 124 stolen pieces, EL PAIS reported. Three days later, in a press conference,  Attorney General, Enrique Álvarez del Castillo, explained that the pieces had remained in the Jardines de San Mateo residence since the time of the robbery. Further investigation revealed that seven pieces were in the custody of Sardina, who is yet to be arrested. Two others were traded for cocaine by Perches and four pieces were never located. Perches was arrested and sentenced to 22 years in prison. Experts were glad that the recovered pieces weren't damaged. "We were really lucky that the pieces weren't damaged," said Phil C. Weigand, an archaeological researcher, who works in Mexico and Arizona. Washington Post reported. "There isn't a monetary value for pieces like that."