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Louvre Heist
- Poudre Press Staff
- 5 hours ago
- 10 min read
On October 19, 2025, artifacts, jewels and gems were stolen from Paris’s Louvre Museum. The Apollo Gallery, which is on the upper floor, was where the break-in was made, and the thieves got in through a window on that level. The heist lasted roughly seven minutes, and two high-security display cases were broken, along with nine items being stolen. The jewelry taken from the museum is estimated to be worth 88 million euros ($102 million), and around 100 investigators have been involved in the manhunt to track down those responsible in the heist. Near the scene, one of the items was recovered, and it was an ornate gold crown, worn by Empress Eugénie, during her reign in the 1800s. There is a chance that some of the other items will be dismantled, then the jewels will be sold, and the gold and silver melted down, because otherwise, they are too recognizable to the public.
A list of the items stolen:
A sapphire diadem (which is a jeweled crown or circlet), necklace and a set of earrings, which were worn by several queens. The diadem has 24 Ceylon sapphires and 1,083 diamonds in it. In 1985, the Louvre acquired this set of three sapphire items.
An emerald necklace and earrings gifted by Napoleon to Marie-Louise, which have 32 intricately cut emeralds and 1,138 diamonds in them, and in 2004 the Louvre bought them for 3.7 million euros ($4.3 million).
The reliquary brooch, which comprises 94 diamonds, and the Louvre acquired in 1887. A diamond bow brooch and diadem of Empress Eugénie that the Louvre bought in 2008, and the pearl diadem contains 212 pearls and 1,998 diamonds.
Recovered:
Eugénie’s crown, which features 1,354 diamonds and 56 emeralds, and was damaged in the heist.
Here is what is known so far about the suspects:
A 34 year old man, who was arrested at Paris airport. He is an Algerian national, who has been living in France since 2010, and is suspected to be one of the two thieves who entered the Apollo Gallery and stole the jewels. He was arrested on Oct. 25, six days after the heist, at Charles de Gaulle airport as he was trying to fly to Algeria (North Africa), with no return ticket. The Algerian national lives in a suburb north of Paris, named Aubervilliers and is known to the police, mostly for road traffic offenses and one theft. His DNA was matched to DNA that was found on a scooter that was used in the getaway. He told investigators that he currently has no job but that he used to work as a garbage collector and delivery man. He faces preliminary charges of theft by an organized gang and criminal conspiracy.
A 39-year-old-man was also arrested on Oct. 25, at his home in Aubervilliers, where he was born. He is believed to be the second man who entered the Apollo Gallery. His DNA was found on one of the glass cases where the jewelry was displayed and on items the thieves left behind. He is known to the police for several past thefts. Later this month he is going on trial for damaging a mirror and the door of the prison cell where he was being detained in, as part of a separate investigation, in which he was later cleared. He told investigators he works as a taxi driver, operating illegally. He also faces preliminary charges of theft by an organized gang and criminal conspiracy.
A 37-year-old man, who has a record of theft was arrested on Wednesday, 10 days after the heist. He is believed to be the third member of the team of four who arrived at the Louvre with a lift truck. The four thieves left the scene on two scooters, heading toward eastern Paris. DNA of this man was found inside the basket lift and the man denied his involvement in the theft. He has criminal records containing 11 previous convictions, 10 for theft. He too faces preliminary charges of theft by an organized gang and criminal conspiracy.
A 38-year-old woman was accused of being an accomplice, and she was arrested on Wednesday. She is the longtime partner of the 37-year-old suspect, they have children, and the couple lives in La Courneuve, another northern suburb of Paris, close to Aubervilliers. Her lawyer said that she denied any involvement in the theft. A small amount of her DNA was found on the basket lift, and she faces preliminary charges of complicity in theft by an organized gang and criminal conspiracy.
Police have arrested suspects in connection with the theft of jewels from the Louvre museum, and one of the suspects attempted to leave the country. The thieves fled from the Louvre, with jewelry worth tens of millions in a matter of minutes. Authorities were able to track down the individuals after analyzing over 150 samples of DNA that were left at the scene, and both men are from the Parisian suburb of Aubervilliers, where one of them was arrested. The other two people suspected of being involved in the heist remain at large, making up a group of four thieves. “Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said that “one of the men arrested was preparing to leave the territory from Roissy airport, also known as Charles de Gaulle airport, near Paris. BFMTV reported, citing sources, that he was arrested during a passport check before he could board an evening flight to Algeria” (a country in northern Africa) (Knight and Stockwell). “The stolen jewels [. . .] were not recovered when the two arrests were made, BFMTV said. France’s Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez congratulated the investigators for the arrests, who he said “have worked tirelessly, as I asked them to, and who have always had my full confidence”” (Knight and Stockwell).
To gain access to the upper floor of the Louvre Museum, the thieves used a truck-mounted ladder to gain access to the gallery, which is one of the most ornate rooms in the museum, and they went through a window. The burglars got the truck-mounted by pretending that they were hiring the freight lift for a move and when the equipment owner arrived to verify the job, the suspects threatened that person, forcing them to hand over the freight lift and leave the scene. The pieces were not insured, but this is not uncommon for state collections because of the very expensive costs. “The ministry reportedly said that the state "acts as its own insurer" when works are in their usual place of conservation "given the cost of taking out insurance" and the fact that "the accident rate is low”” (Dorgan). If a collector was involved, and helped commission the heist, then there is hope that the stolen pieces will remain intact and well-preserved until they are recovered.
Two suspects that were arrested in connection with the theft of France’s crown jewels have admitted involvement in the heist and have been placed in custody. Both suspects were presented before an investigative judge on Wednesday and were placed under formal investigation for organized theft and criminal conspiracy. The two men were arrested on Saturday evening and they were held in custody, and they were questioned for 96 hours. Police have also arrested a third suspect in the Paris region on Wednesday evening, and they are also in police custody.
The first of these suspects was the 34 year old, of Algerian nationality, who had prior records for traffic-related offenses and was identified through DNA. The second suspect was the 39 year old, illegal taxi and delivery driver. ““There is nothing to suggest that the four perpetrators benefited from any form of inside help within the museum”” (Vandoorne and Kent). The crime of ‘theft as part of an organized gang,’ carries a potential 15-year prison sentence and a heavy fine. ““These jewels are now unsellable. Anyone who buys them would be guilty of the offence of handling stolen goods. There is still time to return them”” (Vandoorne and Kent).
Five new suspects were arrested on Thursday, bringing the total number of arrests to seven. One of the five new suspects is believed to have been part of the four-man gang who carried out the heist. After an 11-day manhunt, police have now arrested three of the four men that they believe participated directly in the heist, disguising themselves as construction workers to steal artifacts dating to the Napoleonic era. Investigators have yet to uncover any of the looted treasures, estimated to be worth more than $100 million. The latest arrests took place Wednesday night in Paris and in the surrounding region, including in Seine-Saint-Denis. The heist has captured the world’s attention and raised uncomfortable questions about security arrangements in France’s most-visited museum. The Louvre’s director, Laurence des Cars, admitted to the French Senate that no security cameras were monitoring the second-floor balcony where the thieves broke in, on October 19, using an angle grinder.
The heist revealed a serious digital weakness about the museum. French media reports say the museum once used its own name, Louvre, as a password for its surveillance system. While this detail may sound unbelievable, it highlights how often people still rely on weak passwords even in high-security places that should know better and use stronger passwords. A decade-old French cybersecurity audit reportedly showed troubling gaps in the museum's defenses. The Louvre is said to have once run outdated software and had unguarded rooftop access, which sounds similar to how the recent thieves used an electric ladder to reach a balcony. One of the biggest mistakes that the museum made was using "Louvre" and "Thales" as their passwords.
The director of the Louvre Museum is facing scrutiny over the apparent security failures that allowed thieves to make off with jewels from the upper floor of the museum. The museum director, Laurence des Cars Des Cars admitted that security around the Louvre's perimeter was an issue and that the only camera monitoring the outside of the museum was facing away from the balcony that led to the gallery where the precious jewels were kept. All of the museum's alarms were functioning during the burglary, just not to the direction in which the cameras were pointing. “"The theft committed at the Louvre is an attack on a heritage that we cherish, for it is our history," French President Emmanuel Macron said in a post on X, on Sunday. "We will recover the works, and the perpetrators will be brought to justice. Everything is being done, everywhere, to achieve this, under the leadership of the Paris prosecutor’s office"” (Wolf). The heist has prompted a national reckoning, with some officials comparing this shock to the shock of the 2019 burning of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.
The director of the Louvre Museum in Paris, on Wednesday, addressed a new security breach that happened at the museum while detailing plans were underway to overhaul the facility's old security system, in the wake of last month's $102 million jewel heist (the one mentioned above). Laurence des Cars, who is the president and director of the Louvre, appeared before the National Assembly Culture Affairs Committee and was grilled about a new security breach that occurred at the museum last week. Lawmakers asked the director how “two Belgian influencers were able to hang a portrait of themselves on Friday in a gallery housing Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa painting” (Hutchinson). Saying that she wanted to "put things in perspective," des Cars responded by saying that “the security breach was one of a string of incidents that have plagued the 232-year-old museum over the years” (Hutchinson). “"We constantly have incidents in the Louvre's galleries. Two years ago, it was activists," des Cars, referring to environmental activists who hurled soup on paintings, a tactic other museums around the world have experienced” (Hutchinson). The installation of anti-intrusion systems will eventually start, along with another major security improvement which will be the construction of a police station on the grounds of the Louvre. This police station will be among one of the more than 20 "emergency measures" that will be put in place "in the coming days." Security measures will also include the installation of 100 new security cameras at the Louvre, including cameras to monitor the perimeter of the museum, that were severely lacking during the October jewel heist. Between 2022 and 2025, 134 digital cameras were installed throughout the museum as part of a $933 million "Louvre New Renaissance" plan. “"I want to instill a genuine security culture," said des Cars, adding that she has been calling for the security upgrades since she became the museum's director in 2022” (Hutchinson).
Dictionary (Merriam-Webster)
Coming before and usually forming a necessary prelude to something else
A royal headband
The act of conspiring together
An agreement among conspirators
A group of conspirators
To impart gradually
To cause to enter drop by drop
The act or process of finding a person guilty of a crime especially in a court of law
A strong persuasion or belief
The act of convincing a person of error or of compelling the admission of a truth
The state of being convinced of error or compelled to admit the truth
One who exerts influence : a person who inspires or guides the actions of others
A person who is able to generate interest in something (such as a consumer product) by posting about it on social media
To cause constant or repeated trouble, illness, etc. for (someone or something)
To cause worry or distress to
To disturb or annoy persistently
Works Cited
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CORBET, SYLVIE. “What to know about the 4 suspects in the Louvre crown jewels heist.” ABC7 Chicago, 2 November 2025, https://abc7chicago.com/post/louvre-heist-suspects-what-know-4-museum-crown-jewels/18105087/. Accessed 17 November 2025.
Dorgan, Michael. “How Louvre burglars used a truck-mounted lift in the $100M jewelry heist.” Fox News, 22 October 2025, https://www.foxnews.com/world/how-louvre-burglars-obtained-truck-mounted-ladder-make-off-jewels-worth-more-than-100m. Accessed 11 November 2025.
Guy, Jack. “Louvre heist suspects are local petty criminals, Paris prosecutor says.” CNN, 3 November 2025, https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/03/europe/louvre-heist-petty-criminals-scli-intl. Accessed 6 November 2025.
Harvey, Lex. “Historic jewels stolen in ‘national disaster’ for France: What we know about missing Louvre treasures.” CNN, 20 October 2025, https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/20/style/louvre-heist-which-jewels-stolen-intl-hnk?iid=cnn_buildContentRecirc_end_recirc&recs_exp=up-next-article-end&tenant_id=related.en. Accessed 6 November 2025.
Hutchinson, Bill. “Louvre director details security improvement plans following $102 million jewel heist.” ABC News, 19 November 2025, https://abcnews.go.com/International/louvre-director-details-security-improvement-plans-102-million/story?id=127670115. Accessed 19 November 2025.
Knight, Camille, and Billy Stockwell. “Suspects arrested over brazen jewel theft from Paris’ Louvre museum.” CNN, 26 October 2025, https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/26/europe/louvre-robbery-france-arrests-intl?iid=cnn_buildContentRecirc_end_recirc&recs_exp=up-next-article-end&tenant_id=related.en. Accessed 6 November 2025.
Knutsson, Kurt. “Louvre's $100 million heist exposes shocking password security flaws.” Fox News, 9 November 2025, https://www.foxnews.com/tech/thieves-steal-100m-jewels-from-louvre-after-museum-used-own-name-surveillance-password. Accessed 11 November 2025.
Vandoorne, Saskya. “Five new suspects arrested over Louvre heist – but still no sign of looted jewels.” CNN, 30 October 2025, https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/30/europe/louvre-jewels-heist-arrests-intl?iid=cnn_buildContentRecirc_end_recirc&recs_exp=up-next-article-end&tenant_id=related.en. Accessed 7 November 2025.
Vandoorne, Saskya, and Lauren Kent. “Louvre heist suspects have admitted involvement in jewels theft.” CNN, 29 October 2025, https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/29/europe/louvre-heist-suspects-investigation-intl?iid=cnn_buildContentRecirc_end_recirc&recs_exp=up-next-article-end&tenant_id=related.en. Accessed 6 November 2025.
Wolf, Rachel. “Louvre director admits 'terrible failure' in security after $100 million heist.” Fox News, 23 October 2025, https://www.foxnews.com/world/louvre-director-grilled-spectacular-security-failures-including-camera-pointing-away-from-key-balcony. Accessed 11 November 2025.
Simon Story is a 11th grader at Poudre High School, and this is his first year with the Poudre Press. The column he is working on is about war. He is not currently involved in any school activities, but he has interests in filming, video games, and reading. Some of his plans for post-graduation are either going into a trade, or doing something in the food industry, or in IT.
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