PARIS: Last month’s spectacular Louvre heist, in which robbers made off with some of France’s crown jewels, was a “deafening wake-up call” for museum security, the head of France’s highest audit institution said on Thursday (Nov 6).
Upgrades to security at the world-renowned museum have been moving at a “woefully inadequate pace”, Pierre Moscovici told a press conference to present the audit court’s report on the Paris museum.
Instead, the museum has prioritised “high-profile and attractive operations” at the expense of security, the Court of Auditors said in the new, sharply critical report.
A four-strong gang raided the Louvre, the world’s most-visited art museum, in broad daylight on Oct 19, taking just seven minutes to steal jewellery worth an estimated US$102 million before fleeing on scooters.
The thieves parked a truck with an extendable ladder below the museum’s Apollo Gallery housing the French crown jewels, clambered up, broke a window and used angle grinders to cut into glass display cases containing the treasures.
Authorities have so far not recovered the stolen jewels. But four people – three of whom are suspected of being directly involved in the heist – have been charged and detained.
Source: CNA
