THE BRIGHT SIDE
Jewelry heists don’t happen just in the movies.
A high-profile jewelry heist occurred at the Louvre Museum in Paris on October 19, 2025, during which eight items of the French Crown Jewels were stolen. The stolen items, which include several tiaras, necklaces, and earrings, are worth an estimated $102 million. The heist was carried out by four masked thieves disguised as construction workers. They used a vehicle-mounted ladder to reach a first-floor window of the Galerie d’Apollon, where the jewels were displayed.
The robbers used a disc cutter to slice through the window glass, which triggered a security alarm. They spent only four minutes inside the museum itself, with the entire operation lasting under eight minutes. The thieves threatened security guards with their power tools during the evacuation process. They left the museum by descending the hoist’s ladder to two getaway scooters waiting on the ground floor. In their haste, the thieves dropped the Crown of Empress Eugénie, which was found “badly damaged” outside the museum. They also left behind several tools, a walkie-talkie, and a helmet and glove containing DNA evidence.
The heist has exposed major vulnerabilities in the Louvre’s security system. The museum’s director, Laurence des Cars, acknowledged a “terrible failure,” noting that external security cameras did not adequately cover the area where the thieves broke in. The museum has been chronically underfunded and understaffed, according to labor unions. Two men from a Paris suburb have been arrested in connection with last week’s major jewel heist at the Louvre Museum, the French National Police confirmed. A nationwide manhunt continues for two other perpetrators. One suspect was arrested at 10 p.m. on Saturday at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport while trying to board a plane bound for Algeria, police said. The second suspect was nabbed by police as he was about to travel to Mali, in West Africa. Both suspects, whose names have not been publicly released, are French nationals who live in Seine-Saint-Denis, a suburb of Paris, according to investigators. One of the suspects has dual citizenship in France and Mali, and the other is a dual citizen of France and Algeria, investigators said, adding that both were already known to police from past burglary cases.
Following the robbery, the Louvre was evacuated and closed for several days, reopening on October 22. The Galerie d’Apollon remains closed while the investigation continues. Two of the robbers were captured, one trying to leave the country. How such robbers could think they could get away with such a national outrage is almost beyond belief.
