Investigators reportedly located a garage in a Paris suburb where the missing gemstones were kept
RT: French police officers stand in front of the Louvre Museum after a robbery in Paris, France, on October 19, 2025. © Jerome Gilles/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Investigators
probing last year's jewel heist from the Louvre Museum have traced the
stolen gems to a garage in Aubervilliers, a suburb north of Paris, Le
Parisien has reported. The gemstones, worth over $100 million, have not
yet been recovered.
Four masked men armed with a chainsaw broke
into the iconic Paris museum on October 19, using a crane to reach the
second floor. Two of them forced their way into the Apollo Gallery,
where they smashed a display case and fled with the jewelry pieces.
Accomplices assisted with lookouts, getaway vehicles, and moving the
loot.
According to surveillance footage cited by the newspaper,
two suspects on scooters entered the underground garage of a private
building on the same day. Video shows them examining the stolen items
for several seconds before stashing them, though some of the jewels were
already missing, according to the newspaper.
The suspects
reportedly returned to the garage multiple times to retrieve scooters
and other items. On the night of October 23, the men were seen covering
their faces after noticing surveillance cameras and left in a white
Citroen.
The historic haul included 8,482 diamonds, 35 emeralds, 34 sapphires,
and 212 pearls, BFMTV reported in December. The gemstones were mounted
in eight jewelry pieces that were part of a temporary exhibition and
were on loan to the museum. Eight suspects have been arrested so far in
connection with the robbery, with police continuing to investigate their
roles in the theft.
Louvre Director Laurence des Cars told a
Senate hearing in October that the crime was made possible by the
museum’s outdated external surveillance system, describing it as a ‘weak
point’ of the Louvre.
Home to the Mona Lisa, the Louvre has long
faced scrutiny over security and modernization delays. A state audit had
previously described its security systems as “old and inadequate,” and former museum director Pierre Rosenberg warned decades ago that the museum’s security was “fragile.”