On October 19, local time, a world-shaking theft occurred in the Louvre, one of the world's most famous museums. Three thieves climbed to the second floor of the museum through a very common basket lift in broad daylight. The window and used a mini gasoline chain saw to break through the door and enter the "Apollo Gallery".
According to reports, the theft occurred half an hour after the museum opened. The thieves arrived in the area on motorcycles. They disguised themselves as construction workers and stole hundreds of millions of dollars in less than 10 minutes. Precious jewelry, of course, the cultural significance of these "French historical heritage" is priceless.
The Apollo Gallery, rebuilt in 1661 by the organization of Louis XIV, symbolizes the sun god Apollo (the emblem of the king), inspired by the Versailles Mirror Hall.
It is that some tourists photographed the process of the thieves, apparently they were not afraid if someone else was present, a criminal rather calmly cut off a glass cabinet with concrete manufactured by Steel, and then took the jewelry, as if the thing belonged to him.
French Minister of Culture Rachida Dati said "no use of violence, very professional" and said the thieves looked very "experienced" but, according to Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau, these criminals wearing Bafaclafa hats "threaten the guards present."
More than ten hours after the theft, the thieves are still unknown, and prosecutor Beccuo said that no information has been released about the thieves' identities and did not rule out the possibility that they were foreigners, adding that the robbery was most likely the work of "organized crime". According to the surveillance video, the robber was riding a motorcycle from the center of Paris to the southeast to the A6 expressway when he was last seen.
The stolen jewelry includes the crowns, necklaces, and earrings in the jewelry suites of Queen Mary-Amélie (Marie-Amélie, the last queen of France) and Queen Orpheus (Hortense de Beauharnais, successor to Napoleon, who married Napoleon's brother Louis Bonaparte, who became Queen of the Netherlands).
Marie Louise (wife of Napoleon II) 's emerald necklace and earrings.
Diamond corset knot of Empress Eugénie (wife of Napoleon III and queen of the Second French Empire). In addition, a "sacred brooch" was also lost.
The Crown of Queen Eugenie, which was originally also stolen, was later found by police outside the museum and was only severely damaged.
The crown is said to be made up of 1354 diamonds + 56 grandmother’s green gemstones, with a cross on top and an eagle ornamented with imperial leaves in the crown structure. The crown was donated to the Louvre by donor Rubert Paul after hundreds of years.
Repairing the crown would be a long-term task.
Now people are more concerned about whether the stolen cultural relics can be recovered, but according to the speculation of the head of the French High-end Jewelry Association, the jewelry may have been split.
“As in the case of this theft, if the criminal gang finds it impossible to resell heritage-grade jewelry, they will quickly break the jewelry to ‘identify’.” “These diamonds and grandmother green after cutting, will be unlike the ordinary market jewelry, hardly traceable. Once divided, re-cutting, even if each loss is 10–15%, it can still be sold through private channels.”
It is said that the stolen jewelry in the "black market" is cut again at a very fast rate, in 72 hours it can be disassembled, mowed, molded, re-mowed, and almost erased the trace of the source.