Thieves shocked the world in October by pulling off a daring heist at the Louvre, making away with £77 million worth of jewels. The audacious robbery, which lasted only seven minutes, involved a four-man crew donning yellow vests and motorcycle helmets. Using a cherry picker, the thieves accessed the museum’s Apollo Gallery, where they used chainsaws to break into glass displays, causing panic among onlookers.
Among the stolen items were valuable pieces such as an emerald and diamond necklace gifted by Napoleon I to his second wife and a diadem adorned with 212 pearls and nearly 2,000 diamonds once owned by Napoleon III’s wife. Authorities later recovered Empress Eugénie’s crown, embellished with over 2,000 diamonds and 56 emeralds, which the thieves dropped during the heist.
The robbery occurred on October 19 when two thieves breached a second-floor window at the museum, looting jewellery from glass cases in the Apollo Gallery. The criminals fled the scene using an electrical ladder mounted on a truck and escaped on high-powered motor scooters with their accomplices waiting outside.
An investigation later revealed that the Louvre’s security systems were compromised due to a weak password, ‘LOUVRE,’ used for video surveillance management. The National Cybersecurity Agency of France uncovered this security lapse in a 2014 audit. The museum’s perimeter security was also deemed inadequate, attributed to past underinvestment, as highlighted by the Louvre’s President and Director Laurence des Cars during a recent testimony before the French Senate.
In connection with the robbery, four individuals have been charged by the Paris prosecutor. Three suspects directly involved in the heist face charges of theft by an organized gang, while a fourth person, believed to be a central figure, remains at large. Additionally, a woman, the partner of one of the suspects in custody, has been charged with complicity in the crime. All four individuals face criminal conspiracy charges, with the stolen jewellery, valued at $100 million, still missing.