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France has been left reeling after one of the most audacious daylight robberies in its history saw priceless jewels stolen from the Louvre Museum in Paris. Valued at 88 million euros ($102,443,000), the treasures included jewels once worn by royalty from the Napoleonic era, among them Queen Marie-Amélie and Queen Hortense. French prosecutor Laure Beccuau confirmed that around 100 investigators are now involved in tracking down the criminals, whose operation lasted just seven minutes.
The thieves reportedly used a truck-mounted ladder to access the Apollo Gallery through a window, broke into high-security display cases with power tools, and made their escape on scooters along the Seine. Authorities have since recovered one of the scooters and a helmet believed to belong to one of the suspects. Despite these findings, experts fear that the prospects of recovering the jewels remain slim.
Among the stolen pieces were a diamond and sapphire tiara and necklace, as well as a stunning emerald jewelry set gifted by Napoleon to his wife Marie-Louise. With eight of the nine stolen items still missing, many fear the loot may already have left France. Senator Natalie Goulet suggested the jewelry could have been dismantled and smuggled abroad for resale, calling it a probable act of organized crime.
Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin admitted that the heist exposed severe security lapses at the Louvre, including unsecured windows and easy public access to the tools used in the theft. The Louvre, once a royal fortress, holds deep historical symbolism for France, making the robbery feel like a national wound. As author Elaine Sciolino put it, "This attack is a dagger into the heart of France and French history." While investigators comb through DNA and fingerprints, the country waits anxiously, hoping history will not repeat the fate of other artworks lost forever.
