Louvre thieves escaped with 30 seconds to spare, probe reveals

The thieves who stole crown jewels from the Louvre in October evaded police with just 30 seconds to spare due to avoidable security failures at the Paris museum, a damning investigation revealed on Wednesday. The probe, ordered by the culture ministry after the embarrassing daylight heist, revealed that only one of two security cameras was working near the site where the intruders broke in on the morning of Sunday October 19. Agents in the security control room did not have enough screens to follow the images in real-time, while a lack of coordination meant police were initially sent to the wrong place once the alarm was raised, the report unveiled at the French Senate’s Culture Commission stated.

“It highlights an overall failure of the museum, as well as its supervisory authority, to address security issues,” the head of the commission, Laurent Lafon, said at the start of a hearing. One of the most startling revelations was that the robbers left only 30 seconds before police and private security guards arrived on the scene. “Give or take 30 seconds, the Securitas (private security) guards or the police officers in a car could have prevented the thieves from escaping,” the head of the investigation, Noel Corbin, told senators.

He said that measures such as a modern CCTV system, more resistant glass in the door cut open with angle grinders, or better internal coordination could have prevented the loss of the jewels — worth an estimated $102 million — which have still not been found. Major security vulnerabilities were highlighted in several studies seen by management of the Louvre over the last decade, including a 2019 audit by experts at the jewellery company Van Cleef & Arpels. Their findings stressed that the riverside balcony targeted by the thieves was a weak point and could be easily reached with an extendable ladder — exactly what transpired in the heist. Corbin confirmed that under-fire Louvre boss Laurence des Cars had not been aware of the audit which was ordered by her predecessor, Jean-Luc Martinez.