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Louvre thieves took away crown jewels worth $102 million: French prosecutor
Around 100 investigators are now involved in the hunt for the suspects, the prosecutor said.
A French prosecutor on Tuesday said that the crown jewels stolen in the dramatic heist at the Louvre Museum in Paris were worth an estimated 88 million euros ($102 million), according to the Associated Press.
Prosecutor Laure Beccuau, whose office is leading the investigation, added that the monetary estimate does not include the “historical value” of the artefacts to France.
Beccuau told broadcaster RTL that about 100 investigators are now involved in the hunt for the suspects.
“The wrongdoers who took these gems won’t earn 88 million euros if they had the very bad idea of disassembling these jewels,″ she said in an interview with broadcaster RTL. ″We can perhaps hope that they’ll think about this and won’t destroy these jewels without rhyme or reason.″
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The thieves broke into the Louvre Museum in Paris on Sunday, using a crane. They stole priceless jewellery from an area that houses the French crown jewels before escaping.
The thieves struck at about 9.30am (local time) when the museum had already opened its doors to the public and entered the Galerie d'Apollon building.
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Eight objects were taken, according to officials cited by AP. These include a sapphire diadem, necklace and single earring from a matching set linked to 19th-century French queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense; an emerald necklace and earrings from the matching set of Empress Marie-Louise, Napoleon Bonaparte's second wife; a reliquary brooch; and Empress Eugénie's diadem and her large corsage-bow brooch, a prized 19th-century imperial ensemble.
Four thieves are being hunted by French authorities for their brazen heist. Authorities are analysing fingerprints found at the scene.
The museum has hit back at criticism that the display cases protecting the jewellery were fragile, saying they were installed in 2019 and "represented a considerable improvement in terms of security".
