On Sunday, October 19th, thieves carried out a bold daylight heist at the Louvre Museum in Paris, stealing several pieces of France’s historic crown-jewelry collection and stunning Museum Security.
Police have arrested suspects in connection with the theft, just as one attempted to leave the country, the Paris prosecutor’s office said.
According to French authorities, the operation occurred at 9:30 a.m. local time, and lasted just about four minutes from entry to escape. Culture Minister Rachida Dati told French news channel TF1 that surveillance videos captured the thieves entering “calmly” and breaking display cases holding the jewels. She stated that the robbery involved “no violence” and characterized it as “highly professional.”
Video footage from inside and outside the museum revealed that the thieves, four individuals, arrived using a truck-mounted ladder to reach a second-floor window of the Apollo Gallery, which they then cut through to enter the museum. They made their getaway by going back down the ladder, and then fleeing on motor scooters.
Authorities were able to track down the individuals after analyzing more than 150 samples of DNA left at the scene, found in helmets and gloves left by the suspects. Two of the men are from the Parisian suburb of Aubervilliers, where one of them was arrested, while the two others suspected of being involved in the heist remain at large.
Laurence Des Cars, the Louvre director, told senators on Wednesday that cameras failed to detect the thieves in time to prevent their audacious heist. Des Cars added that she had offered her resignation following the incident, however, it had been refused by Dati.
The stolen items include emerald- and sapphire-encrusted diadems, necklaces, and brooches once worn by the wives of Napoleon Bonaparte and other 19th-century royals. The Paris public prosecutor estimated the worth of the inventory loss to be around 88 million euros ($102 million), although officials emphasize that the historical and cultural damage may be far greater.
This is not the first time the Louvre has been targeted by thieves. However, past robberies have mainly involved the theft of paintings—such as the Mona Lisa, stolen in 1911—rather than jewels.
Following the daylight robbery, French Justice Minister, Gérald Darmanin admitted that the heist exposed security weaknesses as France’s most famous museum.
“One can wonder about the fact that, for example, the windows hadn’t been secured, about the fact that a basket lift was on a public road,” Darmanin told France Inter radio. “What is certain is that we have failed.”
Officials continue to work to improve security measures, and to prevent an event like this from reoccurring in the future.
