Over 150 traces secured How investigators want to solve the Louvre jewel robbery
The police hope to catch the Louvre burglars thanks to numerous leads (archive photo).
Image: dpa
Paris public prosecutor Laure Beccuau hopes the Louvre case will be solved quickly (archive photo).
Image: dpa
The police hope to catch the Louvre burglars thanks to numerous leads (archive photo).
Image: dpa
Paris public prosecutor Laure Beccuau hopes the Louvre case will be solved quickly (archive photo).
Image: dpa
88 million euros in loot, over 100 investigators in action: how DNA, video recordings and the media hype could solve the Louvre burglary before the jewels threaten to disappear forever.
24.10.2025, 14:40
dpa
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- In the spectacular break-in at the Louvre in Paris, four perpetrators stole jewelry worth around 88 million euros.
- Over 150 traces such as DNA and fingerprints as well as surveillance videos will help to identify the perpetrators and trace their escape route.
- Investigators are also looking into internal complicity and hope to catch the perpetrators quickly before the jewels are processed.
Following the spectacular break-in at the Louvre in Paris, the public prosecutor's office is hoping to catch the perpetrators thanks to the many traces left behind by the criminals as they fled the museum. "More than 150 DNA, fingerprint and other traces have been secured on site and on a helmet, grinding machines, gloves, a vest and so on that were used and left behind by the burglars," Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau told the newspaper "Ouest-France".
"The analyzes take time, even if they are a priority for the laboratories. We expect results in the next few days that may provide us with clues, especially if the perpetrators are on record." Around 100 investigators from units combating serious crime and trafficking in cultural property are involved in the search for the perpetrators.
Police have reconstructed the thieves' escape route into the surrounding area
The video surveillance "made it possible to follow their route in Paris and the neighboring departments," the public prosecutor told the newspaper. Enormous effort had been required to "evaluate all available images from public and private cameras in areas that could correspond to different escape routes".
"We naturally want to find the perpetrators as quickly as possible in order to recover the jewelry before the gemstones are possibly removed and the metals melted down," said Beccuau. All hypotheses are therefore being examined.
"The possibility of complicity within the museum is being investigated like all other possibilities." The hope is that the enormous media attention given to the case will deter the perpetrators from moving around with their loot.
Investigators suspect organized crime
During the break-in at the Louvre on Sunday, four unknown perpetrators stole jewelry and jewels with an estimated value of around 88 million euros. The thieves broke open two display cases and took eight precious pieces of jewelry from former queens and empresses - including tiaras, necklaces, earrings and brooches encrusted with precious stones. The method of operation points to organized crime and the investigation must show whether this is true, the public prosecutor told "Ouest-France".
A museum employee who was working in the affected exhibition hall during the break-in told RTL that the crime took place at the time of day when there are a maximum number of guards in the museum. Accordingly, numerous employees inside and outside the museum had rushed to the scene of the break-in.
"It could have been even worse"
The employees outside would have accelerated the escape of the robbers, who did not manage to set fire to the freight elevator they were using. According to the supervisor, her colleagues made sure that "they dropped the objects". "Even inside the gallery, they didn't take everything they wanted. So it could have been even worse."
