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Senate Hearing Details Louvre Security Failures That Let Jewel Thieves Escape by 30 Seconds

Investigators told senators that unmonitored exterior feeds plus an underpowered control room reflect years of underestimated intrusion risk.

Overview

  • IGAC chief Noël Corbin said security or police could have intercepted the robbers if responders had reached them within a 30‑second window.
  • A camera outside the museum recorded the arrival, lift installation and departure of the thieves, but the footage was not watched live and was reviewed only after they had fled.
  • The central security control room was described as under‑dimensioned, with too few screens and limited capacity to guide a rapid response.
  • Investigators cited a breakdown in institutional memory, including a 2019 Van Cleef & Arpels audit on the Galerie d’Apollon that was not conveyed to the leadership installed in 2021.
  • Following provisional findings, anti‑intrusion measures were approved as the Senate schedules hearings with former and current Louvre presidents, while the criminal probe stands at seven arrests with two charged and jailed.