Paris — French authorities might effectively handle to trace down and arrest the thieves who pulled off an audacious theft of royal crown jewels from Paris’ iconic Louvre museum, however they’re unlikely to get better the nationwide treasures, a criminologist advised CBS Information on Tuesday. The heist passed off on Sunday, in broad daylight with vacationers within the museum, however no one was damage.
“We’ll catch them,” Alain Bauer, a professor of criminology at France’s Nationwide Conservatory of Arts and Crafts, advised CBS Information.
However he added: “I do not suppose we’ll seize the jewels.”
Bauer mentioned a whole lot of DNA was left on the scene by the robbers, together with on the crown of the empress Eugénie, which was left behind by the thieves as they made their getaway on bikes.
French police additionally recovered a big crane carry utilized by the thieves to entry an higher flooring window of the 230-year-old museum, together with an influence noticed, gloves, a walkie-talkie and a can of gasoline. Authorities have mentioned the criminals might have meant to make use of the fuel to burn their instruments, however they ran out of time.
DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP/Getty 
The criminals entered from the again aspect of the Louvre’s fundamental constructing on Sunday — away from the principle entrance with its well-known glass pyramid — earlier than reducing their means by a window utilizing the facility carry and noticed. They then made their means straight for the Galerie d’Apollon, the big corridor that housed the crown jewels.
If the thieves have been skilled criminals, they could be identified to the police, with info obtainable on French regulation enforcement databases, Bauer advised CBS Information.
However “in the event that they’re novice, or within the center, below management or subcontracted by any individual else, it could be a little bit extra sophisticated,” he mentioned.
What are the jewels stolen from the Louvre price?
The stolen French crown jewels are priceless in historic phrases, however specialists have advised CBS Information they’d nonetheless be price tens of millions of {dollars} if damaged up and bought on the black market.
One of many stolen objects is a tiara that includes 212 pearls and practically 2,000 diamonds, commissioned by Emperor Napoleon III to have fun his marriage to Eugénie de Montijo in 1853. Additionally swiped: a sapphire-and-diamond tiara and necklace set, a big diamond brooch, and an emerald necklace and earrings that have been initially a marriage reward from Napoleon to his second spouse, Empress Marie-Louise of Austria, in 1810.
The Louvre 
The gorgeous theft was probably the most spectacular theft on the Louvre museum for the reason that Mona Lisa was stolen in 1911. The long-lasting portray by Leonardo da Vinci was positioned in Italy and returned to the Louvre a number of years later.
Sunday’s heist has been described as each a tragedy and a nationwide embarrassment for France.
“You realize, you suppose, within the Louvre, of all locations, do not they’ve the perfect safety on the planet?” one surprised American vacationer advised the French information company AFP quickly after the theft, calling it “loopy.”
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However safety specialists say the Louvre’s safety vulnerabilities have been in depth. A current safety audit famous that 35% of the rooms within the Denon Wing, the place the jewels have been saved, don’t have any safety cameras, in response to a Radio France report.
France’s Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin advised reporters on Monday that the nation had basically didn’t safe its nationwide treasures.
“I do know that we can not safe completely all of the websites. However what was certain was that we failed, as a result of somebody was able to placing in a crane truck, within the open, within the streets of Paris, to have folks stroll up for a few minutes and take priceless jewels and provides France a deplorable picture,” Darmanin lamented.
