As French investigators hunt for the suspects in Sunday’s brazen daytime jewel heist at the Louvre, a new video appears to show two of the thieves escaping from the museum.
In the footage, two people are seen descending a basket lift on the side of the museum as pedestrians stroll along the Seine. One is wearing a yellow vest and a black face covering; the other is dressed in all black and wearing a motorcycle helmet.
According to police, the thieves used the lift to access a balcony, where they forced open a window with an angle grinder and entered the museum’s Apollo Gallery, home to the historic collection of crown jewels. The thieves then smashed two high-security display cases and grabbed eight objects — valued at over $100 million — before fleeing on motorcycles. They were inside the museum for less than four minutes.
One of the suspects attempted to set fire to the truck they used to carry out the raid, but was stopped by a Louvre security officer, officials said. That confrontation was not captured in the video.
NBC News reported Thursday that prosecutors found traces of DNA samples in a helmet and gloves found at the scene. But it was unclear if the DNA belonged to the suspects.
About 100 investigators are now involved in the probe into what French officials are calling “aggravated theft by an organized gang.”
The museum reopened on Wednesday, but the Apollo Gallery, where Sunday’s theft occurred, remained closed.
People queue outside the Louvre in Paris on Monday. (Emma Da Silva/AP)
The Louvre heist has shocked France and put a spotlight on security protocols at the world’s most-visited museum.
The museum’s director, Laurence des Cars, told the French Senate on Wednesday she offered to resign over the “terrible failure” in security, but that French Minister of Culture Rachida Dati refused to accept it.
Paris Prosecutor Laure Beccuau said earlier this week that the stolen jewels were worth an estimated 88 million euros, or $102 million — not including their incalculable historical value to France.
And experts say it is a race against time to recover the gems, which are likely to be cut and sold in pieces.
“If these gems are broken up and sold off,” Tobias Kormind, managing director of 77 Diamonds, a major European diamond jeweler, said in a statement, “they will, in effect, vanish from history and be lost to the world forever.”
