The Paris prosecutor appealed to the robbers not to destroy the pieces, stressing that they “would not profit” if they had “the bad idea of melting the jewelry”. Among the stolen objects are eight jewels of the ancient French crown, including Empress Eugénia’s tiara, from the 19th century.
“The losses were assessed by the Louvre curator at 88 million euros, just for their financial value, which is considerable, but has no comparison with the historical and patrimonial losses involved,” said Beccuau, speaking to RTL radio.
The prosecutor appealed to the robbers not to destroy the pieces, stressing that they “would not profit” if they had “the bad idea of melting the jewelry”. Among the stolen objects are including Empress Eugénia’s tiara, from the 19th century.
Fingerprints collected on site “are being analyzed”
Authorities confirmed that four people were directly involved in the robbery and that they may have counted on “various support teams”. The investigation, conducted by the Interregional Specialized Jurisdiction (Jirs) of Paris, mobilizes around 100 researchers.
Beccuau also revealed that the fingerprints collected at the scene “are being analyzed” and may allow the perpetrators of the theft to be identified. The authorities do not exclude the hypothesis of internal complicity.
On Sunday, the group of robbers took just a few minutes to enter Galeria de Apolo in a goods elevator, quickly break two of the three showcases installed at the end of 2019 to store the precious jewelry, using an angle grinder, and escape with the pieces.
Museum remains closed
The goods elevator was there due to an alleged moving operation and an employee of the company providing the service was threatened, but did not suffer physical violence, the Paris prosecutor said.
The robbery of the most visited museum in the world, in the heart of Paris, generated strong political controversy and relaunched the debate on the security of French cultural institutions, after images of the robbery were widely publicized in the international media.
