Paris prosecutor Laure Bequieu said today that the damage from Sunday to Sunday is estimated by the curator of the museum at 88 million euros, from a financial point of view alone.
“The damage is estimated by the curator of the Louvre at 88 million euros”, an amount that is “extremely impressive”, but “is in no way equivalent or comparable to the historical damage”, the prosecutor added in statements made to RTL, clarifying that the criminals “would not win” this amount “if they had the very bad idea to melt these jewels”.
“We can perhaps hope that they will think about this and not destroy these jewels for no reason,” added the prosecutor.
Laure Bekiu also said she is “looking forward to hearing whether, in police terminology, the prints found will ‘match someone or not’: Analyzes are currently being carried out”.
The official confirmed the number of “four people who were identified as being present at the scene”, leaving open the possibility that “around them” there were “groups” who “helped them commit this theft”.
Asked about the possibility that there were insiders inside the museum, Bekiu said she could not “answer with a yes or a no” at this stage.
The prosecutor also said that the elevator used to commit the theft was obtained by the criminals through “a bogus rental for a supposed move.”
“When one of the employees of this business presented himself at the moving site, he was confronted by two threatening men, who, however, did not use any violence against him,” Bekiu added, citing a lawsuit filing.
According to her, in addition to the investigators of the specialized Jirs team of the Paris prosecutor’s office, who are leading the investigations, “about 100” investigators have been mobilized in Paris for the case.
