New surveillance video shows Louvre jewelry heist in action

Images of the Spectacular robbery at the Louvre Museum has been broadcast for the first time on French television and shows brazen jewel thieves breaking into display cases.

The images, filmed by surveillance cameras, were broadcast by TF1 and public channels France Televisions on Sunday night, three months after the shameful robbery that occurred in October.

They show the two robbers, one wearing a black balaclava and a high-visibility yellow jacket, the other dressed in black and wearing a motorcycle helmet, as they force their way into the Apollo Gallery.

After breaking through a reinforced window with high-powered disk cutters, they begin cutting through display cases as several uninvolved staff members look on.

Louvre officials have stressed that staff are not trained to deal with thieves and are asked to prioritize the evacuation of visitors.

The team of thieves used a basket lift to enter through that window on October 19. Thieves broke shop windows to steal. nine pieces of jewelry. None of the jewelry have been recovered except for a crown that was dropped when the group escaped.

The security failures highlighted by the robbery that occurred on a Sunday morning in broad daylight have exposed the management of the institution and the director Laurence des Cars.

A recent security audit found that 35% of the rooms in the Denon wing, where the stolen jewelry was displayed, are not monitored by security cameras, according to Radio France. The gems were also not privately insured, in according to French law.

Unions are pushing for more hiring and better maintenance of the vast former royal palace, and have launched several days of strikes in recent months.

Another strike on Monday forced a total closure for the third time since December, again leaving thousands of disappointed tourists outside.

Four suspects are in police custody for the heist, including the two alleged thieves, but the eight stolen items of French crown jewels with an estimated value of 102 million dollars they have not been found.

During the approximately four minutes that the two men were inside the gallery, a staff member can be seen holding a bollard used to guide visitors through the gallery, according to France Televisions.

The images, as well as multiple DNA samples found at the scene, form a key part of the ongoing criminal investigation into the robbery.

Details of the images have appeared in French newspapers, including Le Parisien.

last month, Metal bars were installed. on the windows of the Apollo Gallery since the robbery.