The brazen daytime heist at the Louvre was carried out by petty criminals rather than professionals from the world of organised crime, the Paris prosecutor has said, describing two of the suspects as a couple with children.
The assertion comes two weeks after thieves parked a stolen truck outside the world’s most-visited museum, used a furniture lift to reach the first floor, then smashed their way into one of the museum’s most ornate rooms. Less than seven minutes later, they escaped on scooters with crown jewels worth an estimated €88m (£76m).
It would not surprise me to find out that the louvre doesn’t pay much for security.
The few times I’ve been to the pyramid the guards have been less than unhelpful. They seem more decorative than anything. I left my phone once and someone took it to the security office there and I tried to ask a guard where that office was and he just kept saying “give up your phone is gone”.
I have no idea what their upper level security is like though.
“Decorative guards” could explain quite a bit about the heist.