By Shaivi Surapaneni (‘29)

Image courtesy of The Daily Beast

We all have heard about the Louvre heist, but do we know how they got away with it? Let’s talk about how thieves broke into the world’s most visited museum in broad daylight, which shook France and social media. 

On the morning of October 19, when the museum opened, the thieves were seen disguised as construction workers; there were four of them. 

These four thieves brought power tools and a machine-powered ladder to reach the first-floor window. Two of the suspects climbed in and threatened the security on that floor. They then cut through the two cases holding the jewels. One of the three rooms that they raided didn’t have CCTV cameras, according to French media. 

And do you know the fascinating thing about this? It took them a span of 7 minutes. According to Ian Aikman and Rachel Hagan in the Everything We Know About the Louvre jewellery heist, “French police say the thieves were inside for four minutes and made their escape on two scooters waiting outside at 09:38.” 

Many items were stolen, valued at approximately $102 million worth of jewellery. Eight historical French crown jewels were taken. These were the sapphire and emerald set, and ​​Empress Eugénie’s bow and tiara. To make it even worse, the reliquary brooch was also stolen.

Image courtesy of Getty

These thieves were highly trained and had preplanned every detail of their escape. But one thing they didn’t count on was the pearl crown dropping in their haste to get away from the scene. According to Ashley J. DiMella in the Fox News article, the Fox news article, “Seven people have been arrested for alleged roles in the crime, and four suspects have been formally charged.” However, the stolen jewellery has not yet been recovered and is said to be dismantled. 

What’s the matter with security? The funny thing is that, apparently, the surveillance system password was just LOUVRE, making it one of the easiest things for the robbers to hack into. A member of the French finance committee said that the gallery’s localized alarm was broken. They’re waiting for the investigation to see if the alarm was deactivated. There were guards stationed right by the museum the morning of the robbery, but they initially thought the thieves were construction workers. 

The topic of this shocking robbery spread so quickly through social media due to its being like a Hollywood movie. There are already many movies like this heist that people on social media are creating memes and funny shorts. And the surprising fact that the robbery was actually done in broad daylight.

Image courtesy of NBC San Diego