Curator foils rhino-head thieves

Police were called to the Castle Museum, Norwich, at 1pm on Monday to reports that four people had attempted to steal the exhibit.

The group paid to enter the museum and, after 40 minutes, they were discovered trying to steal the head.

The museum worker grabbed the head back from them and they fled in a dark hatchback vehicle driven by a fifth person.

Officers are studying CCTV and combing the museum for clues.

In July last year, thieves stole a valuable rhino horn from Ipswich Museum.

Burglars have also stolen horns from museums in Florence, Brussels and Gothenburg, Sweden and a similar theft also took place at the Educational Museum in Haslemere, Surrey.

In August, thieves targeted two horns worth £240,000 at the Natural History Museum in Tring, Hertfordshire. Staff had replaced the rare specimens with replicas.

Rhino horn is worth about £50,000 a kilo – more than diamonds, gold, heroin or cocaine. In Asia, it is often powdered and used for medicinal purposes.