Louvre closes for 2nd day as France hunts jewel thieves

Agencies :

The Louvre was closed for a second day Monday as police hunted for thieves who broke in and stole priceless jewels in a spectacular daylight robbery.

Officials said a team of 60 investigators was working on the theory that an organised crime group was behind the theft Sunday of nine pieces of jewellery, one of which — a crown covered in more than 1,000 diamonds — they dropped as they fled.

The thieves arrived at around 9:30 am (0730 GMT), shortly after the museum opened at 9:00 am, and completed the robbery in just seven minutes, sources and officials said.

They parked a truck with an extendable ladder like those used by movers below the museum’s Apollo Gallery, home to an imperial jewel collection, clambering up and using cutting equipment to get in through a window and open the display cases.

The world-famous museum, whose extensive collections include the Mona Lisa, said it was closing for a second day.

“Following yesterday’s robbery at the Louvre, the museum regrets to inform you that it will remain closed to the public on Monday,” it said on its website.

At the museum, US tourist Jesslyn Ehlers, 38, and her husband were busy rebooking their tickets.

“We’re just kind of disappointed. We’ve been planning this for a very long time,” she said.

Shortly before the announcement, queues of impatient visitors snaked their way across the museum’s pyramid courtyard and under the tall arches of the main entrance gallery.

Carol Fuchs, an elderly tourist from the United States, had been standing in line for more than three-quarters of an hour.

“The audacity, coming through a window,” she told AFP after the disappearance of the jewels.

“Will they ever be found? I doubt it. I think it’s long gone,” she said.
– Diamonds, sapphires missing –
The masked thieves dropped and damaged the crown of the Empress Eugenie, the wife of Napoleon III, as they made their escape.

It is covered in 1,354 diamonds and 56 emeralds, according to the museum’s website.

But eight priceless items of jewellery remain missing, according to the culture ministry.

The list they released included an emerald-and-diamond necklace that Napoleon gave his wife Empress Marie-Louise.