🔗 Share this article

Law enforcement in France are urgently trying to recover irreplaceable jewels taken from the Louvre Museum in a daring daytime heist, yet authorities are concerned it may already be too late to save them.

At the heart of Paris this past Sunday, burglars broke into the top tourist attraction worldwide, making off with eight valued items and getting away via motor scooters in a daring heist that took about just minutes.

Expert art detective a renowned specialist stated publicly he believes the jewels could be "already dismantled", once separated into hundreds of parts.

There is a strong chance the pieces will be sold for a small part of their true price and illegally transported from France, several authorities indicated.

Who May Be Behind the Robbery

The group were professionals, Mr Brand believes, evidenced by the way they managed in and out of the museum so quickly.

"As you might expect, for regular people, you don't wake up one day thinking, I'm going to become a criminal, choosing as first target the world-famous museum," he noted.

"This isn't their initial robbery," he said. "They've carried out previous crimes. They're self-assured and they calculated, it might work out with this plan, and proceeded."

Additionally demonstrating the skill of the group is considered significant, a specialist police unit with a "strong track record in solving major theft cases" has been given responsibility with finding them.

Authorities have stated they suspect the heist is connected to a criminal organization.

Criminal organizations of this type typically have two objectives, legal official Laure Beccuau explained. "Either to act for the benefit of a sponsor, or to obtain expensive jewelry to conduct money laundering operations."

The detective suggests it would be highly unlikely to sell the items intact, and he explained stealing-to-order for a private collector represents a situation that mainly exists in fictional stories.

"No one desires to touch an artifact so identifiable," he elaborated. "You can't display it to your friends, you cannot leave it to your children, there's no market for it."

Possible £10m Price Tag

The detective suggests the stolen items will be taken apart and disassembled, with the gold and precious metals liquefied and the jewels cut up into smaller stones that could be extremely difficult to track back to the Paris heist.

Gemstone expert an authority in the field, host of the digital series If Jewels Could Talk and formerly worked as Vogue magazine's gemstone expert for two decades, told the BBC the robbers had "specifically chosen" the most significant gemstones from the institution's artifacts.

The "beautiful large perfect gems" would likely be removed from the jewelry pieces and disposed of, she explained, excluding the crown from Empress Eugénie which contains smaller gems mounted in it and was "too hot to keep," she added.

This potentially clarifies why it was dropped as they got away, in addition to a second artifact, and found by authorities.

The royal crown that was taken, has rare organic pearls which command enormous prices, specialists confirm.

Although the artifacts are considered being beyond valuation, the historian anticipates they will be disposed of for a minimal part of their true price.

"They will go to someone who is willing to acquire such items," she said. "Many people will seek for the stolen goods – they'll settle for any amount available."

How much exactly would they generate as payment when disposed of? Concerning the possible worth of the haul, Mr Brand said the cut-up parts might value "many millions."

The gems and removed precious metal might achieve as much as ten million pounds (millions in euros; $13.4m), says Tobias Kormind, senior official of a prominent jeweler, a digital jewelry retailer.

He told the BBC the perpetrators would need a skilled expert to remove the gems, and a professional diamond cutter to change the more noticeable pieces.

Less noticeable gems that were not easily identifiable might be marketed immediately and although difficult to determine the precise value of all the stones removed, the bigger stones may amount to around half a million pounds each, he noted.

"We know there are at least four that large, therefore combining all those pieces up plus the precious metal, it's likely coming close to the estimated figure," he stated.

"The jewelry and precious stone industry is liquid and numerous purchasers exist on the fringes that avoid questioning regarding sources."

There are hopes that the stolen goods may be found intact one day – but those hopes are diminishing with each passing day.

Historical examples exist – the Cartier exhibition at the V&A Museum features an item of jewellery stolen in 1948 which eventually returned in a public event much later.

What is certain includes the French public feel profoundly disturbed about the museum robbery, having felt a cultural bond with the artifacts.

"French people don't always like jewellery because it's a question of authority, and which doesn't always have a good connotation in France," a heritage expert, head of heritage at established French company the historical business, stated