The China Mail - Louvre director faces grilling over $102 mn jewels heist

The director, Laurence des Cars, has not made any public statement since thieves made off with royal jewels during a daylight robbery Sunday that took just seven minutes.

The Louvre is expected to re-open Wednesday following two days of shut doors for the investigation -- to the frustration of thousands of tourists -- and its weekly closure on Tuesday.

The theft reignited a row over the lack of security in French museums, after two other institutions were hit last month.

"The Louvre curator estimated the damages to be 88 million euros," or $102 million, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said Tuesday.

But she said the greater loss was to France's historical heritage, adding that the thieves would not pocket the full windfall if they had "the very bad idea of melting down these jewels".

Scores of investigators are looking for Sunday's culprits, working on the theory that it was an organised crime group that clambered up a ladder on a truck to break into the museum, then dropped a diamond-studded crown as they fled.

Beccuau confirmed that four people were involved in Sunday's robbery and said authorities were analysing fingerprints found at the scene.

Detectives are scouring video camera footage from around the museum as well as of main highways out of Paris for signs of the robbers, who escaped on scooters.

Des Cars, who has run the Louvre since 2021, is set to appear before the Senate's culture committee from 4:30 pm (1430 GMT) Wednesday.

- 'Worrying level of obsolescence' -

A report by France's Court of Auditors seen by AFP covering 2019 to 2024 pointed to a "persistent" delay in security upgrades at the Louvre. Only a fourth of one wing was covered by video surveillance.

In January, Des Cars had warned Culture Minister Rachida Dati of a "worrying level of obsolescence" at the museum, citing an urgent need for major renovations.

In Sunday's heist, thieves parked a truck with an extendable ladder, like those frequently used by movers in Paris, below the museum's Apollo Gallery shortly after it opened, climbing up and using cutting equipment to get through a window and open display cases to steal the jewellery.

They made off with eight priceless pieces, including an emerald-and-diamond necklace that Napoleon I gave his wife Empress Marie-Louise and a diadem that once belonged to the Empress Eugenie, which is dotted with nearly 2,000 diamonds.

The museum on Tuesday 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".

- 'Increasingly targeted' -

Just last month, criminals broke into Paris's Natural History Museum, making off with gold nuggets worth more than $1.5 million.

French authorities announced Tuesday that a 24-year-old Chinese woman was detained in that case after she was arrested in Barcelona while trying to dispose of nearly one kilogram (2.2 pounds) of melted gold pieces.

Also last month, thieves stole two dishes and a vase from a museum in the central city of Limoges, estimated at $7.6 million.

"Museums are increasingly targeted for the valuable works they hold," according to the Central Office for the Fight against Trafficking in Cultural Property.

Labour unions have complained that security staff positions at the Louvre have been cut, even as attendance at the world-famous museum, whose extensive collections include the Mona Lisa, has soared.

"We cannot do without physical surveillance," a union official said.

burs-sw-ekf/js/gv

N.Wan--ThChM