Louvre heist creates ‘terrible image’ of France, justice minister says

France’s justice minister said security measures “failed” to prevent a major jewel heist at the Louvre Museum in Paris on Sunday, creating a very negative image of the country.

“People managed to park a furniture elevator in the middle of Paris and get people up there in a matter of minutes to pick up priceless jewels and give France a terrible image,” said Gérald Darmanin.

Thieves using power tools broke into the world’s most visited museum in broad daylight, stole eight items said to be of priceless value and then fled on scooters.

It is feared that if the thieves are not caught as soon as possible, priceless items, including the diamond and emerald necklace that Emperor Napoleon gave to his wife, will be destroyed and smuggled out of the country.

Darmanin told France Inter radio that he was confident that the police would eventually arrest the thieves.

But the head of an organization specializing in the location and recovery of stolen and looted artworks has warned that if the thieves are not caught within the next 24 to 48 hours, the stolen jewels will likely “disappear long ago”.

“There’s a race going on at the moment,” Chris Marinello, chief executive of Art Recovery International, told the BBC World Service’s Newshour programme.

Tiaras and tiaras stolen during a robbery can easily be torn apart and sold in small pieces.

“Thieves will not keep them intact, they will smash them, melt the precious metals, re-cut the precious stones and hide evidence of their crimes,” Mr. Marinello said, adding that it would be difficult to sell these jewels intact.

French police “know that if these thieves are not caught, within the next 24 or 48 hours these items will probably be long gone,” he said.

“They may catch the criminals, but they won’t be able to get the jewels back.”

French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said he was aware of a “major vulnerability” in museum security in France.

French media reported that the Court of Accounts’ preliminary report (to be published in November) stated that one-third of the rooms in the wing where the robbery took place did not have security cameras.

President Emmanuel Macron called the robbery “an attack on a heritage that we value because it is our history.”

Natalie Goulet, a member of the French Senate’s finance committee, also told the BBC it was a “very painful” event for France.

“We’re all disappointed and angry,” he said, adding that “it’s hard to understand how this could happen so easily.”

Goulet told the BBC that the gallery’s alarm had recently been broken and that “we will have to wait for the investigation to find out whether the alarm has been disabled”.

He said the cut jewelery “will be used in a money laundering system.”

“I don’t think we’re dealing with amateurs. This is organized crime and they have absolutely no morals. They don’t see the jewelery as a piece of history, they just see it as a way to clean up their dirty money.”

The theft took place between 09.30 and 09.40 local time on Sunday morning, shortly after the museum opened to visitors.

Four masked thieves gained access to the Galerie d’Apollon from a balcony near the River Seine using a truck equipped with a mechanical lift.

Photos taken from the scene show a ladder mounted on the vehicle climbing up to the first floor window.

Two of the thieves entered the museum by cutting the windows with a cordless disc cutter.

They then threatened the guards who evacuated the building.

Thieves broke glass display cases and stole jewelry containing thousands of diamonds and precious stones.

The robbery lasted only seven minutes.

In the statement made by the Ministry of Culture, it was stated that when the museum’s alarms began to sound, the staff contacted the security forces and followed the protocol.

It was stated that the thieves tried to set fire to their vehicles outside, but were prevented by the intervention of the museum staff.

A total of eight jewels were stolen, including an emerald and diamond necklace that Napoleon gave to his wife, Empress Marie Louise.

Also, once upon a time, III. A tiara (jeweled headband) containing approximately 2,000 diamonds belonging to Napoleon’s wife, Empress Eugénie, was also seized.

They also took a necklace containing eight sapphires and 631 diamonds that once belonged to Marie-Amelie, the last queen of France, according to the Louvre’s website.