French investigators are analysing more than 150 DNA samples, fingerprints and other traces from tools and safety gear left by thieves who broke into the Louvre museum and escaped with crown jewels worth an estimated €88 million (£76 million).
Five days after the brazen heist from the world's most-visited museum, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said she had 'a small hope' the jewels could still be recovered and was 'optimistic' about the investigation's outcome. She expected that 'in the next few days, results will perhaps provide us with leads, particularly if the perpetrators have criminal records.'
The gang of four pulled up outside the Louvre at 9.30am on Sunday in a stolen furniture removal truck fitted with a 30-metre extending ladder and lift. Two of them mounted to the first-floor Apollo gallery, wearing hi-vis vests to resemble construction workers. They smashed an unsecured window and used disc cutters to open two display cases before descending in the bucket lift and escaping on motorbikes.
However, the thieves failed in their attempt to set fire to the truck and left behind a helmet, angle grinders, disc cutters, a hi-vis vest and several other items, all of which are being analysed. Beccuau said minute analysis of video footage from surveillance cameras had helped investigators follow the gang's route 'in Paris and the surrounding areas.'
More than 100 investigators are working on the case. Beccuau said the robbery bore 'all the marks of an organisation: the careful preparation, the audacity of the modus operandi, the type of jewellery targeted, the escape.' The whole operation lasted less than seven minutes, with the two thieves spending 3 minutes and 58 seconds inside. They fled with eight 19th-century gem-encrusted pieces, including a necklace given by Napoleon I to his second wife and a diadem that belonged to Empress Eugénie.
It has emerged that a very similar heist was outlined in a volume of a popular children's book series featuring Fantômette, a girl crime-fighter. In 'Appelez Fantômette', a character describes exactly how he would break into the Louvre, steal a diamond, and escape in minutes. Beccuau stressed time is of the essence, as the jewels are too recognisable to be sold intact and may be broken down for their gems and metal.
