Inside the $100 million Louvre jewel heist that stunned the world

More than a week after thieves made off with treasures from the Louvre, a picture is emerging of a seemingly well-planned burglary that exploited security lapses at the museum and outpaced the police

Holly Barker and her husband, Jake, were third in line at the Louvre the morning of October 19. The couple from Indianapolis had a plan — head straight for the Mona Lisa, before the crowds, then shoot toward Delacroix’s “Liberty Leading the People” and a famous painting of Napoleon by Jacques-Louis David. Fourth stop was a place they had heard was a mini version of Versailles’ Hall of Mirrors: the Apollo Gallery, with its collection of royal jewels. 

It was 9.32 am when Holly stepped inside the gilded hall and took a photo. As she stopped to admire a wedding gift that Napoleon had given his second wife, she heard the first of three loud bangs. The room froze, suspended for a moment of confusion. The thieves were firing up a disc grinder that could cut through reinforced glass. 

 

She and her husband clasped hands and rushed from the gallery with the 20 or so other visitors. They turned back only once, as the same attendant pulled the doors closed and shouted “Run!” 

More than a week after the burglary, in which thieves made off with more than $100 million worth of jewels in broad daylight, the country is still reeling, stunned by its brazenness, shocked by the clear security failures, and less and less hopeful the jewellery will be recovered intact. 

Much is still unknown by the public, including whether the thieves scouted the location as experts say museum robbers do, and whether they had any help from an accomplice within the museum. 

But a picture of the crime has started to emerge, in testimony by French authorities, interviews with Louvre staff and local media reports. It suggests that the thieves had a careful plan, which included stealing the truck-mounted electric ladder they used to reach the second floor. They posed as workmen complete with yellow vests. 

And they cut hand-sized holes with specialised tools that the Louvre’s own firefighting manual says are efficient for opening cases if there’s a blaze. 

On Saturday night, the police arrested the two men they believe entered the gallery and late Wednesday night formally charged them with thefts committed by an organised gang and criminal association. They caught one man at Charles de Gaulle airport, the Paris prosecutor said, as he was attempting to leave with a one-way ticket to Algeria. The second was arrested 40 minutes later near his home in a Paris suburb.  Their two accomplices remain at large  For the Louvre, the fatal flaw was the weaknesses in its security system, especially its perimeter cameras, the museum’s director, Laurence des Cars, admitted to the French Senate last week. The outdoor cameras are very old, she told a hearing, and so scarce that they don’t cover the entire facade. 

Based on the timing of the break-in provided so far by various officials, including the museum’s director, it seems likely that the police missed the intruders by less than a minute. It took officers just three minutes to arrive after they were notified by museum staff and a passing cyclist, the Paris police chief said. 

Four thieves arrived at 9.30 am and parked their truck. Two ascended the ladder. The others remained with the getaway vehicles: two motor scooters. 

After barging into the gallery, the first thief headed directly to the display case where Holly had been moments before, according to a report in the French newspaper Le Parisien that summarised confidential museum surveillance footage of the crime that its reporter saw. The targeted case was not the closest to the window, but fifth in a line that stretched down the 200-foot gallery.  The second thief, who was wearing a motorcycle helmet, attacked the neighbouring case. 

 Alarms began sounding in the guards’ control room when the window was breached, and new alerts were sent as the thieves attacked the two cases, according to the museum director’s testimony. From that room, the museum’s chief operations manager called the closest police station, just over half a mile away, the Louvre’s head of security, Dominique Buffin, told senators last week. The manager also pressed an emergency alert button, alerting the central police prefecture as well.  The thieves remained calm while working, even as two museum guards tried to scare them off. One approached with a metal pole, but one of the intruders waved him back. 

Then the burglars’ composure seemed to crack; they got sloppy. One dropped some jewellery and stopped to stuff it back into his bag, but the burglars left a glove and jewelled brooch behind. The footage also showed the helmeted thief diving head first into the ladder’s basket, the newspaper reported. 

The Paris prosecutor’s office declined to comment on Le Parisien’s report. A museum attendant told the French television channel BFM that he and some colleagues had heard an alert and rushed outside from the museum’s lobby and down to the street toward where the thieves had parked. They arrived just as the motor scooters drove away. 

The guard said they found holes in the truck’s gas tank and a blowtorch nearby — a sign that the thieves had likely hoped to burn the truck to destroy evidence. Instead, they left behind a cache of evidence, including power tools, gloves, a motorcycle helmet and one of the yellow vests they wore, the authorities say. They also dropped the crown of Empress Eugénie.

Holly was mesmerised by the jewels before rushing out with her husband, she said she keeps watching the news hoping the jewels are recovered intact. 

“I think I’m one of the last people to see that necklace and admire it,” she said.