PARIS (AP) — Thieves took less than eight minutes to steal 88 million euros ($102 million) worth of crown jewels in a weekend heist at the world’s most visited museum, the Louvre, shocking the world.
French officials have described how the intruders rode a basket lift up the Louvre’s facade, forced open a window, smashed display cases and fled on Sunday morning. The director of the Louvre Museum in Paris acknowledged a ″terrible failure.″
The culprits, who were still at large on Wednesday, spent less than four minutes inside the museum.
Here’s what’s known about the timeline:
Oct. 10
Thieves use a false pretext to steal a basket lift. Paris prosecutor Laurence Beccuau said they set an appointment with a company that owned the truck before leaving with it, using threats but no violence. The company filed a complaint for the theft in the town of Louvres, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of Paris. The name has made many wonder whether it was a coincidence.
Oct. 19
9 a.m.: The Louvre museum opens to visitors.
9:30 a.m.: Thieves dressed like renovation workers park the truck equipped with a freight lift — a common sight in Paris — on the sidewalk at the foot of the Louvre, on Quai François Mitterrand alongside the Seine River. They put traffic cones around the truck to simulate a maintenance operation. Two people climb a ladder to reach a balcony and gain entry through a window.
9:34 a.m.: The two thieves enter the south end of the Apollo Gallery. An alarm is triggered at the security control room. A staff member in the room makes a radio call to command center members to alert them to the intruders.
9:35 a.m.: Robbers use disc cutters to neatly cut the glass of two display cases and take the jewels. Security officers make visitors evacuate, in line with requirements that focus on crowd safety. The museum manager calls the nearby police station to report a theft in progress and asks for immediate help.
9:36 a.m.: A team leader at the command center activates a special button linked to Paris police headquarters.
9:37 a.m.: A message is sent to staff to request that all the museum’s doors be closed.
9:38 a.m.: The thieves leave via the same window and flee east with two other people waiting for them on two scooters. They leave behind a yellow jacket similar to those often worn by construction workers and other equipment, including a disc cutter. Culture Minister Rachida Dati said that security officers on site prevented one thief from setting the truck with the freight lift on fire.
10:34 a.m.: Dati announces on social media that “a robbery took place this morning at the opening of the Louvre Museum.”
Later that day: The emerald-set imperial crown of Napoleon III’s wife, Empress Eugénie, containing more than 1,300 diamonds, was found outside the museum. The thieves left with eight other objects of invaluable historic value.
Oct. 22
The museum reopens. Beccuau the prosecutor says that about 100 investigators are working on the case in addition to forensics experts who are analyzing surveillance footage and 150 samples that were collected on the basket lift, inside the museum and on items found.
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