Guards huddled in the corner of a Louvre gallery as robbers smashed the cases that housed royal jewels and then made off with them unchallenged, new video from the October raid on the Paris museum has shown.
The security camera footage from inside the Apollon gallery, obtained by France Télévisions, confirms the ease and speed with which the four thieves made off with an estimated €88 million of jewels, spending only four minutes in the museum.
The four alleged robbers, residents of the northern suburbs of Paris and of African origin, have been arrested and charged with staging the Sunday morning assault on the first-floor gallery, but police have so far found no trace of their loot.
The window through which the robbers broke into the gallery
GONZALO FUENTES/REUTERS
The video shows two of the men, in high-visibility vests and one in a crash helmet, running through the gallery with cutting equipment after breaking into a window from a mobile elevator parked in the street outside.
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A group of guards seems to hesitate on how to proceed. One is seen making a telephone call. One of them grabs a rope stanchion and takes a few steps toward the robbers before changing his mind and retreating. The group remains inert in a corner as the thieves go to work.
After four minutes, the two robbers depart, dropping several pieces of jewellery on the floor and leaving them there. The raiders appear unarmed but police said they threatened the guards with electric cutting discs.
• Password for Louvre’s video surveillance system was ‘Louvre’
The video, to be broadcast on Complément d’enquête, an investigative programme on France 2, equivalent to BBC1, has reinforced the impression that Louvre staff were unprepared and unequipped to deal with daylight robbery. Police, called in by the museum’s security unit, arrived a minute after the gang had driven away.
The cab of the mobile lift used in the heist
POITOUT FLORIAN/ABACA/SHUTTERSTOCK
Rachida Dati, the culture minister, said on Sunday that personnel changes at France’s biggest museum are imminent. She gave no details, but Laurence des Cars, the Louvre director, has been under fire over failures in the museum’s security since the October 19 raid.
Staff unions are meeting on Monday to decide whether to stage a new one-day strike after a stoppage on December 15 over working conditions, security and pay.