The freight elevator that the Louvre thieves used to enter, undisturbed, the first floor of the museum and steal the French crown jewels may have been stolen a few days earlier near Paris, in the Val d’Oise. A source close to the investigators made this known to some French media. The events, by a strange coincidence, took place in the municipality of Louvres, north-west of Paris. A local resident has put the freight elevator up for sale on a small private trading platform, Leboncoin. Then he made an appointment with a potential buyer for October 10th. But at the time of the meeting, the man was apparently attacked by a group of individuals who stole his freight elevator and then lost track of them. The victim, who also suffered beatings on the occasion, immediately filed a complaint with the local gendarmerie.
On Monday morning, the Louvre did not reopen. The largest museum in the world, victim yesterday of a sensational theft of precious objects from the Napoleonic era, is keeping visitors out for the second day in a row. Nothing is left out, the museum managers and the state authorities are under pressure, amidst accusations and poisons. An extensive investigation is underway, even though there is no trace of the four thieves who entered through a first floor window after climbing from outside using a goods lift, apart from a yellow vest which one of the thieves got rid of and left on the spot. We continue to insist on the trail of “foreigners”, of a “commissioned” coup, of a gang of “professionals”.
Video Louvre robbery, Napoleon’s jewels stolen
They also asked prosecutor Laure Beccuau whether there could even be a foreign “power” behind the suspicion of “foreigners”. “No, this is not the privileged lead – replied the magistrate – our lead is rather linked to large-scale banditry. Organized crime can have two objectives: having acted on commission or having wanted to have precious stones available to carry out money laundering operations”. The forensic police are examining the yellow construction vest of one of the thieves which was reported to the police by a passer-by who had seen the criminal get rid of it. More than one newspaper defined yesterday’s theft as “the heist of the century”, many have relaunched the debate on the security of French museums, which has caused much discussion in recent years. This time the impression is that we are at a point of no return: a commissioned operation, probably carried out by leading elements of organized crime, took away eight “crown jewels” from France, an offense “to our history”, said President Emmanuel Macron. What made the most impression was the unprecedented nature of the action, which took place at 9.30 in the morning, when the doors of the Louvre had already been opened to Sunday visitors. All over the world, the great Parisian museum with 9 million visitors a year, full of 35,000 works spread over 73,000 square meters, has caused rivers of ink to flow today.
ANSA Agency
Some images of the theft at the Louvre, with the crown found
It will probably reopen on Wednesday, given that tomorrow is the scheduled weekly rest day. Will exceptional emergency safety measures be installed? The “great vulnerability” of the museum – as admitted by the Minister of the Interior, Laurent Nuñez, is worrying. So much so that today an Israeli intelligence company spread the news that it had been contacted by the Louvre to investigate the theft, forcing the museum’s managers to deny it. Rachida Dati, Minister of Culture, insisted on the fact that the alarms installed on the outside access window, which the robbers got past by sawing it with a whisk, and on the display cases containing the jewels, sounded regularly. But it’s not enough. The Court of Auditors, responsible for supervising the use of public funds, believes that the museum “has not managed to make up for the delay in making available equipment intended to ensure the protection of the works”.
“We made a mistake”, admitted Gérald Darmanin, Minister of Justice, the thieves were “capable of giving a truly deplorable image of France”. Minister Dati announced today on M6 TV that the services of the Ministry of Culture will conduct an administrative investigation, parallel to the investigations of the judiciary, “to reconstruct the true course of what happened, with precision to the second”. According to the Ministry of Culture, in this which is the first theft from the Louvre after that of the painting by Camille Corot in 1998 – never found – the alarms on the window of the Apollo gallery and those on the two “high security” display cases were duly triggered. The investigation will establish whether “the officers heard the alarms” and whether they actually rang in the gallery where the thieves – hooded, with their faces covered and wearing the yellow vest of construction workers – were sawing the display cases with the jewels using a circular saw. Little news on the reconstruction of the facts, on the raid of the criminals in the gallery where 800 art objects were located. Nine were taken away, one abandoned during the escape, the crown of Empress Eugenie, wife of Napoleon III, emperor of France from 1852 to 1870. An object of “priceless” value, adorned with the incredible richness of 2,000 diamonds.
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