In a shocking incident last October, the Louvre was targeted by thieves who managed to steal jewels worth £77 million in a daring heist. The thieves, dressed in yellow vests and motorcycle helmets, executed the robbery within seven minutes. Using a cherry picker, they accessed the Apollo Gallery and forcibly broke into glass displays with chainsaws, causing panic among visitors.
During the theft, the culprits took off with eight valuable items, including a historic emerald and diamond necklace once owned by Napoleon I and a diadem adorned with pearls and diamonds from the era of Napoleon III. Although they dropped one item, Empress Eugénie’s crown, the authorities later recovered it. The robbery occurred on October 19 when two thieves breached a window on the museum’s second floor and looted the jewellery from glass cases in the Apollo Gallery.
Following the theft, it was revealed that the Louvre’s security systems had a major vulnerability due to the use of a weak password, ‘LOUVRE’, for the video surveillance server. This critical oversight was exposed by France’s National Cybersecurity Agency, highlighting a significant lapse in security measures.
The Louvre’s director, Laurence des Cars, disclosed to the French Senate that inadequate perimeter security, attributed to underinvestment, hampered the museum’s ability to prevent such incidents. Despite recent arrests related to the heist, including charges against four individuals for organized theft, one suspect crucial to the operation remains at large. Among those arrested is a woman, charged with complicity in the crime, along with the other suspects facing theft and criminal conspiracy charges.
The stolen jewellery, valued at $100 million, is still unrecovered, raising concerns about the ongoing investigation into this high-profile robbery.