Overview
- French TV programs Sept à Huit (TF1) and Complément d’enquête (France Télévisions) released previously unseen CCTV that reconstructs the October 19 robbery step by step.
- The video shows thieves using a stolen lift truck to reach a first‑floor balcony over the Seine, cutting a window with a grinder before entering the Galerie de l’Apollon.
- Inside, two men smashed vitrines with power tools and brute force as guards focused on moving visitors away, with the interior raid completed in under four minutes.
- Eight imperial jewels tied to Empresses Maria Luisa and Eugénie and queens Maria Amelia and Hortense were taken, with the Louvre’s conservation service placing losses at about €88 million; the crown of Empress Eugénie was dropped during the escape and recovered.
- Investigators linked multiple suspects through DNA traces and made arrests, including two at Charles de Gaulle Airport on October 25, while prosecutors report no indication the jewels have left France and most of the pieces remain missing.