Suspects Say Louvre Heist Mastermind Was Dissatisfied With €88m Haul

The alleged architect of the Louvre raid was reportedly “not happy” with the €88 million (£75 million) haul, according to what two suspects are said to have told investigators.

The men, identified locally as Abdoulaye N and Ghelamallah A, were allegedly instructed to force their way into the world-renowned museum’s Apollo Gallery and seize the French crown jewels.

But despite making off with eight exceptionally valuable pieces of jewellery containing 8,700 stones and valued at £75 million, their supposed employer was disappointed, believing the hired thieves “could have taken more”.

According to French newspaper Le Monde, interview transcripts with investigators indicate the pair had been given a precise mission: “Break windows and retrieve jewellery from inside the display cases.”

The suspects allegedly fled with tiaras, a brooch, necklaces and earrings, along with a crown once worn by Empress Eugenie, the wife of Napoleon III.

However, the jewel-studded crown was dropped as the suspects made their escape.

The brazen daytime robbery stunned observers around the globe and dominated international headlines. Even so, the alleged mastermind was reportedly unimpressed with the outcome of the operation, for which the duo were said to have been paid between €15,000 and €25,000 (£12,800 to £21,300).

One of the suspects, Abdoulaye N, a 40-year-old unlicensed taxi driver, reportedly acknowledged: “Yes, it was me, it fell out of my bag.” He also added: “What we did wasn’t right.”

He also told investigators that their client ‘wasn’t happy’ because ‘he thought we could have taken more’.

The suspect claimed that he and his accomplice, a 36-year-old unemployed Algerian who has Diogenes syndrome, had been ordered to carry out a very specific objective: ‘Break windows and retrieve jewellery from inside the display cases.’

However the suspects had refused to name the mastermind who plotted the robbery out of fear of reprisals against their families.

They were arrested only one week after the heist, which took place on October 19, 2025, and have since been charged with theft as part of an organised gang. 

According to Le Monde they had only been recruited just two or three days before the £75million robbery occurred.

They had climbed onto a balcony of the Louvre with a freight lift, broke into the gallery with angle grinders then descended via the lift basket – all while in full view of stunned tourists – before making their getaway on scooters, evading police by a matter of a few seconds. 

Abdoulaye N said: ‘When we got inside, there was nobody, it was dark, only the lights in the display cases were on.

‘In the distance I saw security moving around, behind a door or something… Then, using the power cutter, I broke the glass, took out what was inside… I’ve done worse than that before, all I had to do was make a hole…

‘We were meant to take as many jewels as we could… If we stayed more than three minutes, we knew we had to leave or we’d get caught. For me, what we did took too long.’ 

The suspect added, recalling the mastermind’s disappointment, that ‘we lost time getting in through the window’.  

The incident caused humiliation for France and the Louvre, one of the world’s most famous museums, which, in addition to the crown jewels, also houses artefacts from around the world – some dating back thousands of years.

The oldest in its collection is the Ain Ghazal Statue, a rare gypsum statue from Ain Ghazal (a neolithic site in Jordan) dated 7000 BCE. 

The incident led to the resignation of the Louvre’s director.