By DEMIR KASAPOGLU
On Saturday, Oct. 18, four thieves broke into the Louvre museum in Paris and left with eight pieces of jewelry valued at $102 million.
The robbery began at 9:30 a.m. with a mobile ladder bringing up two of the thieves to a second floor window of the Apollo Gallery, which stores jewels from French royalty. With the thieves dressed as construction workers, nobody stopped them or questioned what they were doing.
At 9:34 a.m., two of the thieves used an angle grinder to break into the gallery. At 9:37 a.m. the alarm had been triggered. When museum staff had gone into the room at 9:38 a.m., the thieves were gone. The thieves fled on scooters, last seen heading towards the city of Lyon on the A6 highway.
No cameras captured the thieves inside or outside. All footage of the thieves came from museum patrons.
Director of the Louvre Laurence des Cars testified in front of the French Senate on Wednesday. She stated that she had been warning about the state of security since her appointment in 2021.
She mentioned that security has been in a “state of deterioration and general obsolescence,” adding that the security guards are not armed. Des Cars made a proposal to the Senate, creation of a new police station in the museum. The proposal is aimed at bolstering the underfunded and deteriorating security presence. There is currently no progress on the creation of this station.
She handed in her resignation to the Ministry of Culture, but Culture Minister Rachida Dati rejected her resignation.
On Saturday, French police announced they arrested two men in connection to the heist. One of the suspects was apprehended at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris boarding a flight to Algeria. The other suspect was arrested traveling to Mali. Both suspects are French nationals who live in a suburb of Paris. As of writing the other two suspects have not been caught, nor have any other information about the individuals under arrest been released to the public.
Featured image: Metro
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