LONDON – When alarms sounded at the Louvre Museum on Sunday morning, four suspects set off on two motorcycles, riding through central Paris, allegedly carrying with them a haul of “priceless” jewels once worn by queens and made of sapphires, diamonds and emeralds.
They have not been found yet.
About 24 hours after the brazen theft of some of the most recognizable pieces of brilliant French heritage, which were stolen during the day from the world’s most visited museum, a search and investigation is in full swing, according to state and law enforcement officials.
“The robbery committed at the Louvre is an attack on a heritage that we cherish because it is our history,” said President Emmanuel Macron. saying on social media on Sunday.
Tourists and visitors walk in front of the Louvre Museum alongside French police officers after the museum was closed following a robbery, in Paris on October 19, 2025.
Resign Dilkoff/AFP via Getty Images
He and other French officials promised that the pieces would be returned and the suspects arrested. The museum closed Sunday morning as police swarmed the area looking for suspects and evidence.
“Following yesterday’s theft at the Louvre, the museum regrets to inform you that it will remain closed to the public today,” officials said in a social media update Monday. “Visitors who have already reserved their tickets will be refunded.”
7 minutes, in and out, authorities say
The suspects arrived in pairs, two in a truck and two on motorcycles, authorities said Sunday. The truck was equipped with a moving ladder, a “mobile loading erector” of the type sometimes used by furniture moving companies in the city, Paris police said.
The suspects allegedly parked the truck on a road bordering the museum, near the Seine, police said.
Police officers look for clues next to a lifting basket used by thieves on Sunday, October 19, 2025, at the Louvre museum in Paris.
Thibault Camus/AP
They were wearing yellow vests, dressed as construction workers might be, police said. They took the time to secure the area near the truck by placing orange construction cones around it, police said.
They then used the staircase to climb to the second floor, climbing to a thin balcony with a metal railing outside the museum’s Apollo Gallery, where some of the French crown jewels were kept, according to police.
Pedestrians walk along the Quai Francois Mitterrand as French police officers stand next to a furniture lift used by thieves to enter the Louvre Museum, in Paris, on October 19, 2025.
Resign Dilkoff/AFP via Getty Images
Once they used an angle grinder to open the window, they climbed through it, police said. Their entry set off the alarm, which was still ringing when they left, the museum said in a statement.
“Inside, they smashed two display cases, ‘Napoleon Jewels’ and ‘French Crown Jewels’, with the angle grinder, and stole numerous pieces of high-value jewellery,” police said.
A member of a forensic team inspects a window believed to have been used in what the French Interior Ministry said was a robbery at the Louvre museum during which jewelry was stolen, in Paris, France, on October 19, 2025.
Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters
When they emerged through the same window about seven minutes later, they carried with them nine pieces of jewelry of “inestimable” value, as France’s interior minister described them on Sunday. Other officials, including Rachida Dati, culture minister, described them to French media as “invaluable.”
According to the French Ministry of Culture, among the stolen objects was a diadem or crown from the collection of Queen Marie-Amélie 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 the bodice of Empress Eugenie.
The Paris Prosecutor’s Office said the perpetrators tried, unsuccessfully, to set fire to the mobile forklift they used in the robbery before fleeing the scene.
A ‘full’ investigation is underway
Museum officials said in a statement that an investigation had been initiated for “organized theft and conspiracy.”
The Paris Prosecutor’s Office, which will oversee the case, turned to a specialized group of detectives, the Brigade for the Suppression of Banditry, which is part of the French National Police, to lead the investigation, according to the Louvre statement.
A police officer blocks access to the Louvre museum after a robbery on Sunday, October 19, 2025 in Paris.
Thibault Camus/AP
Laure Beccuau, a Paris prosecutor, told a local television station on Sunday that about 60 investigators were working on the case, showing “total determination” to find those responsible.
As of Monday morning, police had not yet said whether they had any leads on the suspects’ possible identities.
Authorities said the suspects appeared to have been professionals. Beccuau described it Sunday as organized crime and said officials had not ruled out possible foreign involvement, but also that investigators were treating it as a domestic case at this time.
“Everything possible is being done to arrest the perpetrators of this unacceptable act as soon as possible,” Interior Minister Laurent Núñez said on Sunday.
Will Gretsky of ABC News, Somayeh Malekian, Bill Hutchinson, Victoria Beaule, Dragana Jovanovic and Joe Simonetti contributed to this report.
