Extraordinary new footage has emerged showing the robbers behind the Louvre Museum heist escaping in a mechanical delivery basket before fleeing the scene on scooters with jewels worth an estimated £76 million.
The video captures two thieves descending a ladder attached to a delivery basket parked beside the world-famous museum in central Paris. One is dressed in a high-visibility jacket, while the other wears all black. At least one accomplice waits at the bottom as security guards shout in frustration, realising the men are about to get away.
“The individuals are on scooters – they are about to leave,” one guard can be heard saying as police sirens wail nearby. “Blast! Try the police. They’ve gone!” another exclaims.
The four-strong gang launched their seven-minute raid at around 9.30am on Sunday, 19 October, targeting an under-construction wing of the 232-year-old museum. Using a flatbed truck fitted with an extendible ladder, they reached a first-floor window overlooking the Seine and cut through the glass using a hand-held angle grinder.
Once inside, the gang threatened unarmed guards and visitors before smashing two display cases containing nine historic pieces of Napoleonic jewellery, including items from the French crown jewels.
Investigators later discovered that the CCTV camera covering the targeted room was pointing in the wrong direction, leaving the thieves undetected until it was too late.
After grabbing the jewels, the robbers escaped via the same window, climbing down the ladder into the waiting delivery basket before fleeing on Yamaha scooters.
Speaking for the first time since the heist, Louvre director Laurence des Cars, 59, admitted that the security system had critical blind spots and offered her resignation over the lapse — an offer later rejected by Culture Minister Rachida Dati.
“The only camera installed was directed westward and therefore did not cover the balcony involved in the break-in,” Des Cars told French senators. “Despite our efforts and hard work every day, we were defeated.”
The museum’s private security guards prevented the thieves from setting fire to their getaway vehicle, preserving key forensic evidence including gloves, a helmet and the truck itself.
The jewels, which include the tiara and brooches of Empress Eugénie and Empress Marie Louise, were not insured due to the enormous cost of coverage, Des Cars said.
The investigation remains ongoing as around 100 officers from France’s anti-gang brigade continue to track the highly organised network behind the audacious Louvre robbery.