A group of thieves orchestrated a bold heist at the Louvre Museum in Paris, utilizing a truck-mounted moving lift typically employed by professional movers to transport furniture to upper floors. This allowed them to reach the museum’s second story, as explained by Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau.

The culprits staged a ruse by pretending to rent the lift for a moving job. Upon the arrival of the equipment’s owner or representative to confirm the task, the suspects reportedly threatened them, demanding control of the equipment and forcing their departure, Beccuau told RTL radio, as reported by The New York Times.

According to officials, the burglars spent under four minutes inside the Louvre on Sunday morning. They maneuvered the lift to the side of the building facing the Seine, pried open a window, and shattered two display cases.

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The criminals absconded with eight items, including a sapphire diadem, necklace, and a single earring, all associated with 19th-century royalty Marie-Amélie and Hortense. The burglary has sparked national outrage, with some authorities equating the shock to the 2019 Notre-Dame cathedral fire.

Additionally, they took an emerald necklace and earrings linked to Empress Marie-Louise, Napoleon Bonaparte’s second wife, along with a reliquary brooch. Empress Eugénie’s diamond diadem and her elaborate corsage-bow brooch, exemplifying rare craftsmanship, were also seized.

Police have secured the vicinity outside the Louvre Museum in Paris, where burglars employed a truck-mounted moving lift to access a second-floor window, making off with royal jewels valued at over $100 million. (Dimitar DILKOFF / AFP)

One piece — the emerald-set imperial crown of Empress Eugénie, with more than 1,300 diamonds — was later found outside the museum, damaged but recoverable.

Beccuau said the stolen items were valued at around $102.1 million and that the team investigating the heist has grown to 100 people. 

The pieces were not insured, which is not uncommon for state collections because of the prohibitive costs, the Times reported, citing France’s culture ministry. The ministry reportedly said that the state “acts as its own insurer” when works are in their usual place of conservation “given the cost of taking out insurance” and the fact that “the accident rate is low.”

French crime scene officers gesture as they examine the cut window and balcony of a gallery at the Louvre Museum on Oct. 19, 2025. (Kiran Ridley/Getty; Zhang Weiguo/VCG/AP)

Beccuau told local media that investigators believe the robbers may have been commissioned by a collector or were purely motivated by the value of the jewels and precious metals, Reuters reported.

“We’re looking at the hypothesis of organized crime,” Beccuau told BFMTV, noting that the thieves could be professionals operating on spec for a buyer.  

Beccuau added that if a collector did commission the heist, there is hope that the stolen pieces will remain intact and well-preserved until recovered, the outlet reported. If the thieves acted independently, they may have targeted the jewels for their potential use in laundering criminal proceeds.

“Nowadays, anything can be linked to drug trafficking, given the significant sums of money obtained from drug trafficking,” Beccuau said, according to Reuters.

Investigators are keeping all leads open, but foreign interference has reportedly been largely ruled out in the case.

Forensic police officers arrive at the Louvre Museum after reports of a robbery in Paris on Oct. 19, 2025. (Reuters/Gonzalo Fuentes)

The Sunday morning smash-and-grab unfolded just 270 yards from the “Mona Lisa.”

Prosecutors revealed Monday that a vest, bottle of liquid and equipment left behind at the scene are now being examined. 

The Louvre reopened Wednesday morning to crowds under its glass pyramid