In And Out In 7 Minutes, With Disc Cutters: How Louvre Heist Was Carried Out
Men wielding disc cutters rode up to the heavily guarded Louvre Museum in Paris on a scooter, stole priceless jewellery and left in seven minutes - less time than it takes to finish a portion of French fries.
The museum, which is the world's most visited and is home to the Mona Lisa, was shut on Sunday morning (French time) after the robbery.
While news agency AFP reported the heist was carried out between 9.30 and 9.40 am, French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez gave an even shorter timeline of just seven minutes.
"Individuals entered from outside with a cherry picker (a kind of hydraulic ladder) and stole priceless jewellery" in an incident that "lasted seven minutes", the minister was quoted as saying by French outlet Le Parisien.
Nunez said three or four men carried out the heist and they had focused on two displays in Gallerie d'Apollon (Apollo's Gallery). It was "manifestly a team that had done scouting," the minister said, adding that the panes were cut "with a disc cutter."
Le Parisien said "nine pieces from the jewellery collection of Napoleon and the Empress" were stolen and that one of the jewels was found outside the museum.
Reports said three or four thieves used a basket lift to reach the gallery from the facade which faces the Seine, where construction is going on. They used disc cutters to enter through the windows, stole the nine pieces of jewellery and left.
The piece of jewellery that was found outside the museum is believed to be Empress Eugenie's crown, which was broken.
In a statement to Le Parisien, the mayor of Paris Centre, Ariel Weil, said it was shocking that a robbery could be carried out at the Louvre with such ease. "It's a shock... It's been a movie script up until now. It's hard to imagine that it's seemingly so easy to burglarise the Louvre... The unexpected closure of the site is causing a major public order problem," he said.
(With agency inputs)
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