Overview
- Security video aired by French TV shows guards hesitating as two masked raiders smash display cases in the Galerie d’Apollon and leave unchallenged within minutes.
- Police say the thieves threatened staff with electric cutting discs before fleeing, and officers arrived about a minute after the gang had driven away.
- Culture Minister Rachida Dati signaled imminent personnel changes at the Louvre following scrutiny of the museum’s preparedness during the October 19 break-in.
- Prosecutors confirm four men in their 30s are in custody and a 38-year-old woman is charged as an accomplice under judicial supervision, yet no jewels have been recovered and investigators report no solid leads on a mastermind or the loot’s location.
- The probe details a pre-planned operation using a stolen mover’s truck, ladder and furniture lift, with DNA linking suspects via broken glass, a scooter and the lift, while a ministry review found faulty cameras and inadequate real-time monitoring.