The French Justice Minister has expressed dismay following a significant jewelry heist at the Louvre Museum, stating that the security failures have cast a “terrible image” on France. The minister asserted that authorities are confident in apprehending the perpetrators.
In a daylight operation, thieves utilized a furniture hoist to access the museum, stealing precious jewels. The brazen nature of the crime, carried out with power tools, has raised concerns about the museum’s security measures.
There is growing anxiety that if the stolen items, including a historically significant diamond and emerald necklace, are not recovered promptly, they may be dismantled and spirited out of the country.
The head of an international art recovery organization warned that the window for recovering the stolen jewels is narrow, likely between 24 to 48 hours. He explained that such valuable pieces are often broken down, with stones recut and metals melted, to obscure their origins and make them harder to trace.
The heist occurred within a mere seven minutes, with thieves entering through a balcony near the River Seine. While the museum’s staff followed protocol by alerting security forces, the swiftness of the operation highlights the audacity of the criminals.
The stolen items include crowns and diadems, with fears that their intrinsic value in precious metals and stones makes them targets for immediate dismemberment rather than resale as intact pieces.