Editor’s Note
This article details the brazen theft of priceless jewels from the Louvre, including a historic diadem, and the ongoing investigation. It highlights the significant disruption to the museum and the immense cultural value of the stolen items.
On Sunday, October 19, four individuals stole eight jewels of “immeasurable heritage value” from the famous museum.
In the aftermath of the resounding Louvre theft, a “hundred” investigators, according to Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau, were still searching for the four criminals who made off with “priceless” jewels, including the diadem of Empress Eugénie. The location remained closed to visitors all day Monday, and by Tuesday evening, the museum estimated the damage at 88 million euros.
Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau stated on RTL, adding that the criminals “will not gain” this sum “if they had the very bad idea of melting down these jewels.”
The spectacular heist took place on Sunday morning, shortly after the museum opened to the public. Around 9:30 a.m., on the Quai François-Mitterrand, facing the Apollo Gallery, the four criminals parked at the foot of the building. Wearing balaclavas, two were perched on Yamaha TMax scooters. The team activated the lift of a truck parked on the sidewalk, whose platform supported a telescopic ladder. This allowed them to reach the first floor and the window of the sumptuous gallery, which they forced open with an angle grinder within minutes before entering the room.
prosecutor Laure Beccuau clarified in a statement from the Paris prosecutor’s office.
and to determine if the alarms actually “sounded” in the room that was robbed. The thieves “threatened the guards present on the scene (…) with the angle grinders” they used to break into two display cases: one containing Napoleon’s jewels and the other containing French sovereign jewels.
Within seven minutes, eight jewels were stolen by the criminals. In their flight, they dropped a ninth jewel, an empress’s crown later recovered by investigators, along with equipment used by the commando: two angle grinders, a blowtorch, gasoline, gloves, a walkie-talkie, a blanket, the crown of Empress Eugénie, and a yellow vest, police sources told AFP. A helmet was also found on site, AFP learned Tuesday from a source close to the case, confirming information from Le Parisien.
The jewel, set with 1,354 diamonds, 113 roses, and 56 emeralds, is “under examination,” the Ministry of Culture specified in a statement.
Possible DNA traces on these various objects could advance the investigation. As could the scientific exploitation of the lift, which the commando did not dispose of before fleeing.
Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau confirmed Tuesday evening the figure of
while opening the door to the possibility that “around them,” there were “a whole bunch of teams” that “helped them perpetrate this theft.”
Questioned about the existence of possible internal complicity within the world’s most visited museum, Laure Beccuau responded that she could not “answer yes or no” at this stage. The prosecutor also indicated that the vehicle-lift used to commit the theft was obtained by the criminals through “a pseudo-rental for a supposed move.”
added Ms. Beccuau, mentioning a complaint filing. According to her, in addition to the magistrates of the Specialized Interregional Jurisdiction (Jirs) of the Paris prosecutor’s office leading the investigations, “a hundred” investigators are mobilized in Paris on this case.
On BFMTV Sunday evening, the prosecutor explained that possible “sponsors” could be behind this very seasoned group of thieves. The hypothesis of foreign interference is at this stage “not favored,”
she specified. Before noting:
or to want to obtain “precious stones to carry out money laundering operations.”
On Monday, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez sent instructions to all prefects to strengthen, if necessary, security arrangements around cultural institutions, including museums. A decision made after a meeting at Beauvau bringing together, around the Interior Minister and the Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati, the heads of the police services.