In a shocking incident last October, the Louvre was targeted by thieves who stole £77 million worth of jewels in a daring heist that lasted only seven minutes. The robbers, wearing yellow vests and motorcycle helmets, used a cherry picker to access the museum’s Apollo Gallery, where they broke glass displays with chainsaws and made off with eight valuable items, including historic necklaces and crowns.
The thieves entered by cutting through a second-floor window, swiftly grabbing jewelry from glass cases before escaping using an electrical ladder mounted on a truck. The audacious heist puzzled many initially, but a recent report exposed a major security flaw: the Louvre had a glaringly weak password, ‘LOUVRE,’ for its video surveillance system, as revealed by France’s National Cybersecurity Agency.
The museum’s security shortcomings, including inadequate perimeter protection and outdated technology, were highlighted by the Louvre’s president in a recent statement to the French Senate. Following the robbery, four individuals have been charged in connection with the crime, with three directly involved thieves in custody facing theft charges, while a fourth person, suspected to have a central role, remains at large. Additionally, a female accomplice has been charged with complicity in the heist, and the stolen jewelry worth $100 million is still missing.
