Louvre jewel heist: Manhunt underway for 4 suspects after ‘priceless’ jewelry at Louvre in Paris stolen

As sirens sounded at the Louvre Museum on Sunday morning, four suspects set off on two motorbikes and made their way through central Paris, allegedly carrying with them a collection of “priceless” jewelery once worn by queens and made of rubies, diamonds and emeralds.

They have not been found yet.

Nearly 24 hours after the brazen theft of some of the most iconic pieces of France’s glittering heritage, taken during daylight hours from the world’s most visited museum, a manhunt and investigation are well underway, according to state and law enforcement officials.

“The theft committed at the Louvre Museum is an attack on the heritage that we cherish because it is our history,” President Emmanuel Macron said on social media on Sunday.

He and other French officials pledged to return the pieces and arrest the suspects.

The museum was closed on Sunday morning while police swept the area searching for suspects and evidence.

“Following yesterday’s robbery at the Louvre Museum, the museum regrets to inform you that it will remain closed to the public today,” officials said on social media on Monday. “Visitors who have already booked tickets will be refunded.”

7 minutes, in and out, authorities say

Authorities said Sunday that the suspects arrived in pairs, two in a truck and two on motorcycles. Paris police said that the truck was equipped with an escalator, which is a “mobile freight elevator” of the type sometimes used by transporting furniture in cities.

Police said the suspects stopped the truck on a road that runs alongside the museum near the Seine River.

Police said they were wearing yellow vests and dressed as construction workers. Police said they took the time to secure the area near the truck by placing orange construction cones around it.

They then used a ladder to ascend to the second floor, climbing onto a thin metal-railed balcony outside the museum’s Apollo gallery, where some of France’s crown jewels were kept, according to police.

Once they used an angle grinder to open the window, they climbed through, police said. The museum said in a statement that their entry triggered an alarm that was still ringing when they left.

“Inside, they then smashed two display cases, the ‘Napoleon Jewels’ and the ‘French Crown Jewels’, using an angle grinder and stole several high-value pieces of jewellery,” police said.

When they left through the same window about seven minutes later, they had nine pieces of jewelry of “priceless” value, as the French Interior Minister described it on Sunday. Other officials, including Culture Minister Rachida Dati, described it to French media as “priceless.”

According to the French Ministry of Culture, among the stolen items was a diadem or crown from the collection of Queen Marie-Amelie and Queen Hortense; An emerald necklace and a pair of emerald earrings from the collection of Marie Louise, Napoleon’s second wife; and a large bow-shaped brooch from Empress Eugenie’s bodice.

The Paris prosecutor’s office said the perpetrators tried, and failed, to set fire to the mobile freight elevator they used in the robbery before fleeing the scene.

A “comprehensive” investigation is currently underway.

Museum officials said in a statement that an investigation had been opened into “organized theft and criminal conspiracy to commit a crime.”

The Paris prosecutor’s office, which will oversee the case, has assigned a specialized group of investigators, the Brigade for the Suppression of Banditry, part of the French National Police, to lead the investigation, according to a Louvre Museum statement.

Paris prosecutor Laure Bequiau told a local TV station on Sunday that about 60 investigators were working on the case, showing “complete determination” to find those responsible.

As of Monday morning, police had not yet announced whether they had any leads on the possible identities of the suspects.

Officials said the suspects appeared to be professionals. On Sunday, Pekaw described it as organized crime, saying officials had not ruled out possible foreign involvement, but investigators were treating it as a local case for now.

“Everything is being done to arrest the perpetrators of this unacceptable act as quickly as possible,” Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said on Sunday.

ABC News’ Will Gretzky, Somaya Malikian, Hugo Lenhardt, Camilla Alcini, Bill Hutchinson, Victoria Ball, Dragana Jovanovic and Joe Simonetti contributed to this report.