As the alarms sounded at the Louvre Museum on Sunday morning, four suspects took off on two motorbikes, winding their way through central Paris. Allegedly, they were carrying a haul of “priceless” jewelry once worn by queens, made of sapphires, diamonds, and emeralds. The suspects have not yet been found.
About 24 hours after the brazen theft of some of the most recognizable pieces of glittering French heritage—taken during daylight hours from the world’s most-visited museum—a manhunt and investigation are in full swing, according to state and law enforcement officials.
“The theft committed at the Louvre is an attack on a heritage that we cherish because it is our history,” President Emmanuel Macron said on social media on Sunday. He and other French officials vowed that the pieces would be returned and the suspects apprehended.
The museum closed on Sunday morning as police swarmed the area in search of suspects and evidence. “Following yesterday’s robbery at the Louvre, the museum regrets to inform you that it will remain closed to the public today,” officials said on social media on Monday. “Visitors who have already booked tickets will be refunded.”
### 7 Minutes, In and Out, Authorities Say
The suspects arrived in pairs, with two in a truck and two riding motorbikes, authorities said on Sunday. The truck was equipped with a moving ladder, described as a “mobile freight elevator” of the type city furniture movers sometimes use, according to Paris police.
The suspects allegedly parked the truck on a road running along the side of the museum near the Seine. They were wearing yellow vests, dressed as construction workers might be, police said. They took the time to secure the area near the truck by placing orange construction cones around it.
They then used the ladder to get up to the second floor, climbing onto a thin balcony with a metal railing outside the museum’s Apollo Gallery, where some of the French crown jewels were kept, according to police.
Once there, they used an angle grinder to open the window and clambered through it. Their entrance triggered the alarm, which was still sounding when they left, the museum said in a statement.
“Inside, they then smashed two display cases, ‘Napoleon jewels’ and ‘French crown jewels,’ using the angle grinder and stole numerous pieces of high-value jewelry,” police said.
When they left through the same window about seven minutes later, they had with them nine pieces of jewelry of “inestimable” value, as France’s interior minister described them on Sunday. Other officials, including Culture Minister Rachida Dati, described the items to French media as “priceless.”
According to the French Ministry of Culture, among the stolen items were a diadem (or crown) from the collection of Queen Marie-Amelie and Queen Hortense; an emerald necklace and a pair of emerald earrings from the collection of Marie-Louise, Napoleon’s second wife; and a large bow brooch from Empress Eugenie’s bodice.
The Paris Prosecutor’s Office said the perpetrators tried and failed to set fire to the mobile freight elevator they used in the heist before fleeing the scene.
### A ‘Total’ Investigation Is Underway
Officials at the museum stated that an investigation had been launched into the “organized theft and criminal conspiracy to commit a crime.”
The Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office, which will oversee the case, assigned a specialized group of detectives—the Brigade for the Suppression of Banditry, part of the French National Police—to lead the investigation, according to the Louvre’s statement.
Laure Beccuau, the Paris prosecutor, told a local TV station on Sunday that about 60 investigators were working on the case, showing “total determination” to find those responsible.
As of Monday morning, police had not revealed any leads on the possible identities of the suspects. Officials said the suspects appeared to have been professionals.
Beccuau described the crime as organized and said investigators had not ruled out possible foreign involvement, though at the moment it is being treated as a domestic case.
“Everything is being done to apprehend the perpetrators of this unacceptable act as quickly as possible,” Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said on Sunday.
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*Report contributed by ABC News’ Will Gretsky, Somayeh Malekian, Hugo Leenhardt, Camilla Alcini, Bill Hutchinson, Victoria Beaule, Dragana Jovanovic, and Joe Simonetti.*
https://abc7news.com/post/louvre-jewel-heist-manhunt-underway-4-suspects-priceless-jewelry-paris-stolen/18043128/
