Thieves have stolen “priceless” jewelry from the Louvre in Paris, the world’s most-visited museum, in an audacious seven-minute raid on Sunday, the French interior minister has said.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez told radio station France Inter: “A major robbery took place this morning in the Apollo Room. Individuals entered the Louvre Museum from outside, using a external freight elevator that was positioned on a truck.”
The Apollo Room houses the French Crown Jewels, as well as treasures including Louis XIV’s hardstone vessel collection.
For such high profile items, the thief’s don’t sell them as is. They take apart the jewelry and sell the precious stones bit by bit.
It takes one unscrupulous jeweler to buy the stones, recut them and sell them.
My guess is that the jewels are already in pieces en route to a foreign country.