Louvre robbery evokes notorious

the thieves who stole priceless jewels from the Louvre are reviving memories of a daring gang who stole $500 million in valuables in a series of daring heists that took place over nearly two decades.

The Pink Panthers targeted jewelry stores and museums in Europe and Asia and carried out some of the biggest heists in history, netting $500 million in stolen goods between the early 1990s and mid-2010s.

There is no evidence that the Louvre robbery was related to the Pink Panthers, but the brazen nature of the robbery was similar to those carried out by the gang.

Who are the Pink Panthers?

He pink panthers They are a network of loosely organized teams, Interpol Secretary General Ron Noble told to “60 Minutes” in 2014. There are hundreds of gang members associated with the group. Most were from Eastern Europe, Noble said, and many fought in the Serbian Special Forces during the Bosnian Wars of the mid-1990s. The gang has no organized chain of command, Noble said, and uses experts in fields such as safecracking, car theft and more.

The Pink Panthers bring military discipline and expert planning to their heists, Noble said, often engaging in weeks of surveillance and preparation before reaching their target. The attacks are carried out by small teams, usually in less than a minute, and have well-planned escapes, Noble said. Once on the run, the gang quickly crosses international borders, often using fake passports.

In a daring robbery, the Pink Panthers drove into a shopping center in Dubai before breaking into a jewelery store, stealing a handful of diamonds and leaving – all within 45 seconds. They are responsible for the largest art theft in Japanese history and the largest jewel theft in Britain. In this latest incident, thieves made off with $40 million worth of gemstones, including some hidden in a jar of cold cream. In Saint-Tropez, France, they escaped by speedboat after stealing $3 million worth of jewelry. In 2008, the Pink Panthers stole priceless paintings from an art museum in Zurich, Switzerland. The works of art were collectively worth $163 million, making it the largest art theft in European history.

Authorities have been pursuing the gang for years, Noble said. Interpol has identified 800 members of the Pink Panthers using photographs, fingerprints and DNA, Noble said. Several gang members have been arrested, including an arrest in 2024. Some of the stolen goods have been recovered, including paintings taken from Zurich. However, diamonds and jewelry are difficult to recover, as the gems can be cut or made into different pieces.

Robbery at the Louvre

The Louvre thieves worked in broad daylight while tourists were already inside the famous museum. The thieves entered the museum with a crane-type elevator and then broken display cases at the Apollon Gallery, home of the French crown jewels. They fled the scene on motorcycles, a museum spokesman said.

The museum was closed after brazen robberyand no injuries were reported. French officials said the robbery was carried out in just four minutes and referred to the thieves as “professionals.” Criminologist Alain Bauer told News themezone that the thieves left DNA, which could be compared with information in police databases if the police know the thieves. French police said supplies including an electric saw, gloves, a walkie-talkie and a can of gasoline were also found. Bauer said the evidence will help police in their investigation.

“We will catch them,” said Bauer, a professor of criminology at France’s National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts. “I don’t think we’ll capture the jewels.”

the thieves took nine pieces from the jewelry collection of Napoleon III. One item, Empress Eugenie’s crown, made of gold, emerald and diamonds, was apparently found lying outside the museum.

The other stolen pieces include a pearl and diamond tiara with more than 200 pearls and almost 2,000 diamonds, a bow-shaped gold brooch with thousands of stones, a set of sapphire jewelry that once belonged to Marie Antoinette, an emerald necklace and a pair of earrings that Napoleon gave to his second wife as a wedding gift, and a diamond-encrusted brooch.

The jewels were of “inestimable value”, according to France’s Interior Minister and the museum. Despite their value, the jewels were apparently not in reinforced boxes, art historian and former Louvre worker David Chanteranne told News themezone correspondent Elizabeth Palmer. For reasons of “historical accuracy,” the jewelry was presented in its original cases.

Recent robberies throughout Europe

There have been other notable heists at European museums in recent years. Thieves in Germany broke into Dresden’s Green Vault museum overnight in 2019 and stole more than $120 million worth of jewelry. the thieves said in court They used an ax to destroy the boxes and a fire extinguisher to hide their DNA. Some of the pieces they stole were recovered, but were damaged. Others have never been found.

Thousands of items were found to have been stolen from the British Museum in 2023. The small pieces were not on display and were largely used for research purposes. One employee was fired and the museum said it was taking legal action against him. Some of the articles have been recovered.

In 2022, a group of men broke into the Celtic and Roman Museum in Germany, in a robbery that took place in only nine minutes. Cables were cut at a nearby telecommunications center, leaving the area without communications networks. The thieves opened the museum door and then smashed into a display case to make off with hundreds of gold coins dating back to 100 BC. C. They left the museum without activating any alarm.

The men were arrested several months later. three participants were convicted and given prison terms of up to 11 years, while a fourth was acquitted of involvement in the robbery but convicted of other charges. The treasure is still missing and appears to have been at least partially melted down.

In 2020, a Van Gogh painting was stolen from a Dutch museum that was closed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The painting was recovered in 2023, according to the Smithsonian.

In:

• Paris
• Art
• grand theft
• France
• The Louvre