It was the French Assortment.
A trio of slick robbers disguised as development employees took fewer than 10 minutes to openly break into the Louvre Museum in entrance of tourists and employees Sunday and coolly make off with thousands and thousands of {dollars} in priceless gems, French authorities stated.
Right here’s how the sensational, lightening-quick heist went down.
Scooters and chainsaws
At 9:30 a.m., simply half an hour after the famed artwork museum opened, the gang of three thieves arrived on the central Paris vacationer attraction on scooters.
They then used a basket elevate to stand up to a second-floor window and wielded mini gas-powered chainsaws to interrupt in, Le Parisien reported.
The masked and hooded crooks had positioned the basket elevate on the museum themselves and “threatened the guards who have been current on the scene,” Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau advised BFMTV.
“We’ve got CCTV footage from the museum itself,” she stated, including that proof to date factors to a excessive diploma of “preparation and group” from the thieves — who pulled off their caper in fewer than 600 seconds.
Daylight theft
Dramatic video from contained in the Louvre exhibits one of many criminals carrying a inexperienced reflective vest typical of these discovered at development websites calmly reducing via a glass case surrounding one of many focused gadgets as guests watched.
A Stihl Cutquick concrete noticed, which retails for $1,300, was used to achieve entry to the circumstances.
Footage of the theft exhibits two of the masked robbers coming into “calmly” and smashing show circumstances containing French Crown Jewels value an “incalculable” amount of cash, officers stated.
“No violence, very skilled,” stated France’s tradition minister, Rachida Dati, to TF1, describing the thieves as showing to be extremely “skilled.”
The theft occurred simply 270 yards from the Mona Lisa and noticed 9 of France’s most dear items of bijou snatched.
Excessive-speed escape
By 9:40 a.m., the 2 robbers had left the constructing via the identical window and bought to the bottom due to the spider elevate, the place the third criminal was ready.
All of them then bought onto scooters and fled the scene, though of their rush to flee, they left behind a number of key items of proof, French authorities stated.
One of many stolen objects, an emerald-set imperial crown containing greater than 1,300 diamonds that when belonged to Napoleon III’s spouse, Empress Eugenie, was discovered damaged outdoors the museum, Le Parisien reported.
Police arrived minutes later to additionally discover the spider elevate, the concrete noticed, a yellow reflective jacket utilized by one other one of many thieves, a blowtorch, two angle grinders, gloves, gasoline and a blanket, the outlet stated.
What now
The robbers have been final seen in safety video using away on their scooters heading southeast out of central Paris towards the A6 freeway.
1000’s of baffled guests have been quickly evacuated from the museum, which was shut for the remainder of the day.
Forensic groups have been pictured taking samples round a damaged window on the south aspect of the constructing going through the River Seine, the place development work was going down.
No info has but been launched on the identities of the thieves, nor has it been dominated out that they have been international nationals, Beccuau stated, including that the heist was more than likely the work of “organized crime.”
French President Emmanuel Macron vowed that the jewels and the robbers can be discovered.
“The theft dedicated on the Louvre is an assault on a heritage that we cherish as a result of it’s a part of our historical past. We’ll get better the works and the perpetrators will likely be dropped at justice,” Macron stated on X.
“Every thing is being accomplished, in every single place, to realize this, below the management of the Paris prosecutor’s workplace,” he added.
Priceless haul
The stolen gadgets embrace a diamond and sapphire tiara that belonged to the final queen of France, Maria Amalia, in addition to to Queen Hortense, the daughter of Napoleon Bonaparte’s first spouse, Josephine.
A sapphire necklace and earring from the second assortment are additionally lacking, in addition to an emerald necklace and earrings that belonged to Marie-Louise, Napoleon’s second spouse.
Additionally reportedly gone are a reliquary brooch, which is designed to carry a spiritual relic, a tiara and a bodice knot belonging to Empress Eugenie.
Remarkably, a 140-carat diamond referred to as “the Regent,” and the centerpiece of the gathering, was untouched by the robbers.
The Apollon Gallery was beforehand raided in 1976, when armed robbers stole a sword that when belonged to King Charles X.
The sword was by no means recovered, with specialists speculating that it was shortly melted down by the thieves.
The Louvre is the world’s hottest artwork museum, with virtually 9 million guests in 2024 alone.
With Submit wires
