Overview
- A surveillance camera captured the thieves’ arrival, break-in and getaway, but no one watched the feed in real time and the footage was reviewed only after they had left.
- Investigators said police and museum security missed the suspects by about 30 seconds, with an under-equipped control room and initial directions sending officers to the wrong location.
- The probe cites outdated equipment, blind spots and defective or missing cameras, and notes that a 2019 Van Cleef & Arpels audit of the Apollo Gallery’s weaknesses was not relayed to leaders who took over in 2021.
- All four alleged main perpetrators are in pre-trial detention, the organizers remain unidentified, and the stolen crown jewels have not been recovered.
- Parliamentary scrutiny is intensifying and Louvre unions have announced strike action, increasing pressure on museum director Laurence des Cars.