It seems appropriate to say:

HEADS WILL ROLL!

The thieves used a very large, rather obvious ladder:

quote:

FOXNEWS.com: Louvre museum closed after robbery, French official says
Criminals entered through construction site along Seine River, stole priceless jewels of 'historical value'
By Stephen Sorace Fox News
Published October 19, 2025 7:41am EDT

Thieves broke into the Louvre Museum in Paris and stole priceless jewelry before escaping on motorbikes, French officials said Sunday.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez called the heist a "major robbery" that "lasted seven minutes." Speaking to France Inter, he said the thieves "entered from the outside using a basket lift" and "a disc cutter" to slice through glass panes containing precious jewels.

"The investigation has begun, and a detailed list of the stolen items is being compiled," the ministry said in a statement. "Beyond their market value, these items have inestimable heritage and historical value."

The museum posted on X it would remain closed for the day for "exceptional reasons," though it did not immediately provide details. No injuries were reported.

According to French daily Le Parisien, the thieves entered through a section of the museum under construction along the Seine River.

The crew reportedly used a freight elevator to access a room in the Apollo Gallery, which houses part of the French Crown Jewels.

The crew stole "nine pieces from the jewelry collection of Napoleon and the Empress," including a crown believed to have belonged to Empress Eugénie, the newspaper reported. The crown was later found broken outside the museum, the report said.

The Louvre houses over 33,000 works [now over 32,992 ] spanning antiquities, sculpture, and painting — from Mesopotamian artifacts and Egyptian relics to masterpieces by European artists. Its iconic treasures include the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo and the Winged Victory of Samothrace.

It's like something out a bad comedy heist movie.

Generally there's two ways of thievery for such high-profile items. You either concoct an elaborate plan that resemble a movie or, novel where intricate detail and process is involved. The usual assortment of technology and exotic tools are used with all manor of ruses to mask their intentions.
The other way is to act like you're supposed to be there, roll-in with all the gear as if you're doing something official and industrious...which is what it sounds like what these guys did.

'Hey what'cha doin?'
'Washing the windows and changing bubs'
'Gotcha, be careful'

quote:

The crew stole "nine pieces from the jewelry collection of Napoleon and the Empress," including a crown believed to have belonged to Empress Eugénie, the newspaper reported. The crown was later found broken outside the museum, the report said.

I was there in May, quite pretty, hopefully not too badly damaged that it can be repaired.
Related, the Louvre is in badly need of repair and renovation, which I understand is in the works. 90% of attendees migrate in-mass to see the Mona Lisa painting, while I was there it wasn't too much of a clown show of idiotic picture takers, however I can easily see how it can descend into such.

the Prime Minister ...call up the police detective, Inspector Jacques Clouseau. (The Pink Panther) and oil up the Guillotine

Someone commented somewhere else that there's construction in and around that area constantly so this wouldn't have raised red flags for many people nearby.

quote:

The crew stole "nine pieces from the jewelry collection of Napoleon and the Empress," including a crown believed to have belonged to Empress Eugénie, the newspaper reported. The crown was later found broken outside the museum, the report said

link
Nice looking piece, hope they can fix it.

The French have never gotten over their swooning for Napoleon because he brought such “glory” to France.
Surprised someone hasn’t broken into Les Invalides to steal Bony’s bones.

“Priceless”. I hear the strains of Henry Mancini playing the Pink Panther theme. Now THAT’S priceless.

They’ve brought in their Top Man to investigate.

Because you can spend too much on security.

I love the heel click.

ANOTHER big robbery hits France as armed crooks dressed as cops raid gold laboratory

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ne...-laboratory-lab.html

A group of armed men dressed as police officers have raided a gold laboratory in Southern France.

The dramatic heist comes nearly two weeks after the Louvre in Paris was targeted by robbers.

The crooks, who were reportedly carrying assault rifles and explosives, targeted the Pourquery laboratory in Lyon, which deals with precious metals, on Thursday.

The break-in took place at around 2pm, with eyewitnesses describing how the armed robbers, who wore fake police armbands, smashed the windows of the lab before entering.

Footage shared on social media shows the alleged criminals, who are wearing police uniforms, using a ladder to get over the laboratory's fence, before they are seen loading a small white van and fleeing the scene.

A witness can be heard in the video calling emergency services.

'Hello, there’s a big emergency, we’re in an office at Parc de l'Artillerie. There’s some kind of robbery going on. We heard a loud bang, and people are now robbing the laboratory. They’ve got kalashnikovs, they’ve got weapons', the witness says.

Police said five suspects have been arrested and that the stolen goods have been recovered.

Five employees sustained minor injuries, according to French newspaper Le Parisien.

The violent robbery comes after five more people were arrested on Thursday in connection to the Louvre jewel heist.

The late-night operations in Paris and nearby Seine-Saint-Denis lift the total arrested to seven.

Prosecutor Laure Beccuau told RTL that one detainee is suspected of belonging to the brazen quartet that burst into the Apollo Gallery in broad daylight on October 19; others held 'may be able to inform us about how the events unfolded.'

Despite the arrests, the loot - a trove of around $102 million - is yet to be uncovered.

Stolen goods include a diamond-and-emerald necklace Napoleon gave to Empress Marie-Louise as a wedding gift, jewels tied to 19th-century Queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense, and Empress Eugénie’s pearl-and-diamond tiara.

Only one relic has surfaced so far — Eugénie’s crown, damaged but salvageable, dropped in the escape.

Suspects arrested over brazen jewel theft from Paris’ Louvre museum

quote:

Police have arrested suspects in connection with the theft of France’s crown jewels from the Louvre museum, just as one attempted to leave the country, the Paris prosecutor’s office said.

Thieves last week targeted the Louvre’s Apollo Gallery in a brazen daylight raid, fleeing with jewelry worth tens of millions in a matter of minutes.

Scores of investigators have been involved in chasing down those suspected of the heist, which Louvre director Laurence des Cars called a “terrible failure.” Last week, des Cars admitted to the French Senate that no security cameras were monitoring the gallery’s second-floor balcony when the thieves broke in using an angle grinder.

....

Authorities were able to track down the individuals after analyzing more than 150 samples of DNA left at the scene, BFMTV reported. Both men are from the Parisian suburb of Aubervilliers, where one of them was arrested, it added, while two others suspected of being involved in the heist remain at large.

Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said that “one of the men arrested was preparing to leave the territory from Roissy airport,” also known as Charles de Gaulle airport, near Paris. BFMTV reported, citing sources, that he was arrested during a passport check before he could board an evening flight to Algeria.

The stolen jewels – comprising nine items including an emerald necklace set among more than 1,000 diamonds gifted by Napoleon to his second wife – were not recovered when the two arrests were made, BFMTV said.

....

Five more arrested

This message has been edited. Last edited by: corsair,

I'm betting 'top men' were in charge of Louvre security ....

CNET: "You Probably Have a Better Password Than the Louvre Did"

quote:

One of the most significant flaws in the Louvre's cybersecurity was lazy password use. "Louvre" appeared to be the password to access the museum's video surveillance. One computer login password was "Thales," the name of the software developer