Suspects of pirate theft will be caught, expert predicts, but France’s crown jewels may be lost forever

Paris – French authorities may not be able to track down and arrest the thieves who pulled off the brilliant heist of the Royal Crown Jewels from Paris’ iconic Louvre Museum, but they may have recovered the national treasure, a deceased doctor told CBS News on Tuesday. The heist happened on Sunday, in full view of visitors to the museum, but no one was injured.

Alain Bauer, professor of Orminology at France’s National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts, told CBS News.

But he added: “I don’t think we’re going to capture the gems.”

Bauer said a lot of DNA was left at the scene by the robbers, including Empress Eugénie’s crown, which was left behind by the thieves as did the motorcyclists.

The French police also recovered the huge height of the crane used by the thieves to reach the top floor window of the 230-year-old museum, as well as the construction of power, gloves, walkie-talkie and calloline. Authorities said the criminals may have intended to use gas to burn their tools, but ran out of time.

The thieves were holed up on the back side of the Louvre’s main building on Sunday – away from the main entrance with its famous glass Pyramid – before cutting their way through the Power Lift window and saw. After that they went straight to the Galerie D’Apollon, the Great Hall that housed the crown jewels.

If the thieves are trained criminals, they may be known to the police, with information available from French law enforcement information, Bauer told CBS news.

But “If they’re in charge of, or in, being controlled or outsourced by someone else, it can be more complicated,” he said.

What are the stolen treasures of the Louvre worth?

Jewels stolen by the French have no value in historical terms, but the prosecutor of Paris Laure beccuau said on Tuesday Their estimated value is 88 million euros, or $102 million.

“The criminals who took these treasures would not have received 88 million euros if they had the worst idea of ​​dispersing these treasures,” Ccueau said in an interview with French Broadl. “Perhaps we can hope that they will think about this and not destroy these treasures without consent or reason.”

Experts told CBB News Jewels could still be worth millions of dollars if broken and sold on the black market.

One of the items stolen was a tiara with 212 pearls and nearly 2,000 diamonds, commissioned by Emperor Napoleon III to celebrate his wedding in 1853. For his second wife, he mentions Marie-Louise of Austria, 1810.

The spectacular theft was the most spectacular robbery at the Louvre Museum since it was confiscated in 1911. The original painting by Leonardo da Vinci was found in Italy and returned to the Louvre several years later.

Sunday’s veil has been described as a background and a national shame for France.

“You know, you think, at the Louvre, of all places, don’t you have the best security in the world?” One shocked American tourist told the French News Agency AFP shortly after the robbery, calling it “crazy.”

But security experts say the Louvre’s security risks are far wider. A recent Security Audit found that 35 rooms in the Denon Wing, where the treasures were kept, do not have security cameras, according to a report by Radio France.

French Justice Minister Gerald Darmann told reporters on Monday that the country has fundamentally failed to protect national heritage.

“I know that we cannot completely protect all sites. But what was the certainty that we failed, because people were able to put small trucks, they entered France a bad image,” cried Darmanin.