Louvre Heist Getaway Via Furniture Lift Caught on Camera as Investigation Continues

A video has emerged showing two of the thieves escaping from the Louvre after their heist of the Napoleonic crown jewels on Sunday morning.

The 36-second clip captures two men slowly descending a ladder on a motorized basket lift, following a smash-and-grab robbery from the Apollo Gallery of the Paris museum. 

The footage was verified by Le Parisien newspaper and shows the men dressed in black, one wearing a yellow hi-vis vest and the other a motorcycle helmet, holding the snatched treasures, which have a monetary value of more than $102 million, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office.

In the video footage, a French male voice appears to speak into a walkie-talkie, suggesting he could be a security guard.

He says, “The individuals are on scooters. … They’re going to leave, they’re going to leave.”

Another male voice can be heard muttering expletives, then saying, “There they go. Police!”

Seconds later, the two men can be seen heading off on separate scooters, with two others acting as getaway drivers—one ahead and the other behind.

Before they made their getaway, the men attempted to set fire to the truck, but this was not captured on the video.

It was revealed Tuesday by the Louvre’s director that although all the museum cameras were said to be working properly, the window of the Apollo gallery is not covered by CCTV.

Gone in Minutes

The heist—one of the most lucrative in living memory—took just minutes to execute, with the thieves being inside the gallery for just four minutes, according to authorities.

The stolen truck used to carry out the robbery is manufactured with a 90-foot extendable ladder and basket lift, normally used for moving furniture or in construction. Authorities believe the gang dressed the way they did to be mistaken for construction workers.

The gang parked the truck at 9.30 a.m., half an hour after the museum opened, before two of the four-man group used the ladder to access the first-floor window to the gallery, which they smashed open.

Once inside, they forced their way into the glass display cabinets with angle-grinders before grabbing the treasures and making their slow-motion descent in the basket lift.

They then fled the scene of the crime as the alarm sounded and bemused visitors were evacuated from the world’s most visited museum.

Trace Samples Taken

Nobody was physically harmed in the crime, but the French public was left reeling, amid fears the Napoleonic jewels may never be recovered, and with authorities facing difficult questions about accountability.

Laurence des Cars, the Louvre director, told French lawmakers on Wednesday that while the museum’s cameras all worked as they should have, there were gaps in the coverage.

“We did not detect the thieves’ arrival early enough,” Des Cars said, blaming this “terrible failing” on the fact that there were not enough cameras outside monitoring the perimeter of the museum.

She said she had offered her resignation, but it had been refused by Culture Minister Rachida Dati.

More than 150 trace samples of DNA and other types of tissue were taken by investigators, who recovered a helmet, grinders, gloves, and a vest used and abandoned by the burglars, according to Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau, speaking to West France newspaper on Thursday.

Around 100 special investigators are working on the case, with Beccuau saying that video surveillance “made it possible to follow [the burglars’] journey in Paris and neighboring departments.”

The prosecutor said that the huge level of media attention in the robbery gave her “a little hope” that the precious 19th-century pieces might yet be found, echoing the views of experts that the treasures are “completely unsellable” in their existing form, but could be melted and broken down and remade into unrecognizable jewelry.

‘Black Humor’

The robbery, dubbed “the heist of the century” by some French newspapers, has prompted huge speculation about who could be behind it and spawned a torrent of internet memes.

And while special investigators work to catch those responsible, the huge worldwide interest has turned into a publicity opportunity for Böcker, a German maker of cranes and elevators whose product was used in the brazen daylight robbery.

Alexander Böcker, the managing director and third-generation owner of Böcker Maschinenwerke GmbH, told The Associated Press that when he and his wife saw the images online, they were “shocked that our lift had been misused for this robbery.”

But he added, “Once the initial shock had subsided, black humor took over.”

By Monday, Böcker’s company had seen the opportunity in the French national crisis and came up with a social media post featuring a photo of the freight lift—which is typically not used for human transportation.

The accompanying slogan plays on the popular stereotype of German efficiency, translating as, “when something needs to be done quickly.”

The post promotes the ability of the “Böcker Agilo” to transport up to 882 pounds of “your treasures” at a speed of 46 yards per minute, and all in a “whisper quiet” manner, thanks to its 230-volt E-Motor.

“We had hoped for a bit of attention and some good humour, but the feedback was overwhelming,” Böcker wrote on Thursday. “I can understand that not everyone shares this sense of humour, but the vast majority laughed heartily.”

The world’s most visited museum reopened on Wednesday, with tourists queuing outside the iconic Pyramid building at the entrance to tour the precious objects and masterpieces, which include the Mona Lisa, famously stolen in a one-man heist in 1911 but recovered two years later.