British brothers jailed for stealing Ming Dynasty artefacts worth £3m

Two British brothers have been jailed for stealing Ming Dynasty artefacts worth around £3m from a Swiss museum, police said.

In 2019, Louis and Stewart Ahearne – from Greenwich, London – broke into the Museum of Far Eastern Arts in Geneva by smashing a pane on the front door before shattering a display case and leaving with three items.

The two men pleaded guilty to stealing two Chinese Ming Dynasty vases and a cup, believed to be from the 15th century and valued at £2,870,000.

DNA from the scene matched Stewart Ahearne, 45, while CCTV images implicated Louis, 35.

Police set up an undercover sting, posing as art buyers and arranging to meet the gang at a London hotel.

Stewart and his co-conspirator Mbaki Nhkwa handed the vase to the undercover officers in exchange for £450,000, and were promptly arrested.

The Ahearnes were extradited to Switzerland and on Tuesday were each sentenced to three years and six months in prison at a court in Geneva.

Stewart and Louis Ahearne / Credit: Met Police

They will be jailed in Switzerland and once released they will be banned from entering the country for five years.
The brothers were also ordered to each pay 52,261 Swiss Francs (approximately £48,000).

Nkhkwa, David Lamming and Kaine Wright, were all previously sentenced for possession of criminal property for their role in the attempted sale of the vase in London.

A reward of up to £10,000 is on offer for information leading to the recovery of the ‘doucai style’ Ming Dynasty wine cup, which remains missing, and features chickens on its side.

Anyone with knowledge of its whereabouts is asked to call police on 101 and reference Operation Funsea, or call Crimestoppers.