Louvre Jewelry Heist Witness Recalls Dramatic Break-In 🖼️

In a minutes-long strike Sunday inside the world’s most-visited museum, thieves rode a basket lift up the Louvre ’s facade, forced a window, smashed display cases and fled with priceless Napoleonic jewels, officials said.

The daylight heist about 30 minutes after opening, with visitors already inside, was among the highest-profile museum thefts in living memory and comes as staff complained that crowding and thin staffing are straining security.

The theft unfolded just 250 meters (270 yards) from the Mona Lisa, in what Culture Minister Rachida Dati described as a professional “four-minute operation.”

One object was later found outside the museum, Dati said. French media identified it as the emerald-set imperial crown of Napoleon III’s wife, Empress Eugénie, containing more than 1,300 diamonds. It was reportedly recovered broken.

FULL STORY: https://www.11alive.com/article/syndication/associatedpress/frances-culture-minister-reports-a-robbery-at-the-louvre-museum/616-a40a62a2-46d4-4ff5-a0f2-3ab02d9998ae

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