The robbery happened on October 19 in broad daylight. Two thieves cut the glass on the window of the second floor of the museum and in less than ten minutes stole precious jewelry from two showcases in the Apollon Gallery. They then escaped using a mechanical ladder mounted on a truck, where accomplices on motorcycles were waiting for them. Everything happened while visitors and guards were in the gallery.
The Paris prosecutor’s office charged a total of four people. Three men are charged with theft as part of an organized gang, while the fourth person, the partner of one of the suspects, is charged with complicity. The key evidence in the investigation was the DNA traces found at the crime scene. One of the suspects, an Algerian citizen, was arrested at Charles de Gaulle airport with a ticket to Algeria, while the other, a Frenchman from the suburb of Aubervilliers, was detained near his home. Both partially confessed to the crime.
The third arrested person, who is suspected of being the getaway driver, was kept in custody together with his partner, whose traces are yet to be analyzed. All three men were previously known to the police for thefts and minor offenses.
Louvre director Laurence des Cars admitted during a hearing in the French Senate that the main security failure was the lack of cameras on the museum’s exterior walls. The existing cameras were outdated, and the ones that could record the robbery were facing the wrong direction.
The thieves took eight pieces of precious jewelry, including a sapphire tiara with necklace and earrings, an emerald jewelry set, and a brooch and tiara of Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III. A ninth item – Empress Eugénie’s crown, decorated with more than 2,000 diamonds and 56 emeralds – was found after the escape, but with visible damage. Experts believe that the crown will be able to be restored and retain its historical and symbolic value.
The investigation into one of the most brazen museum robberies in modern French history continues, as the public continues to anxiously await the return of the missing treasure.
(Vijesti.ba)
