A major development in the manhunt to find the four people who robbed the Louvre Museum in Paris has been revealed. According to French police, two traces of DNA were found in one of the helmets and one of the gloves the suspects left behind at the scene of the crime.
After the $102 million jewel heist took place on October 19, an investigation was launched in hopes to determine who was behind the heist. Not much has been revealed about the DNA findings, though police confirmed to ABC News that the manhunt is undergoing.
The robbery took place when thieves disguised as construction workers used a vehicle-mounted mechanical lift to enter the Galerie d’Apollon, translated to Apollo Gallery, through a balcony near the River Seine, per BBC.
Two of the thieves got access into the building by cutting through glass panes with a battery-powered disc cutter. After they threatened the guards and got them to evacuate the area, the thieves stole items from two glass display cases.
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Officials previously revealed that the thieves stole jewelry – including crowns, necklaces, earrings and brooches – that belonged to Emperor Napoleon and his wife, according to ABC News.
The Louvre confirmed in a statement that the nine pieces of jewelry had “inestimable heritage and historical value.”
Three days after the heist took place, Laurence des Cars, the president and director of the Louvre, said her resignation was rejected while speaking to lawmakers on Wednesday, October 22 about the security at the museum.
“This tragedy deeply shocked museum staff, fellow citizens, and admirers of the Louvre around the world,” des Cars said, per ABC News. “This is an immense wound that has been inflicted on us.”
Des Cars went on to note that all of the museum’s alarms and video cameras worked, though she acknowledged there is a “weakness” in security.
“The weakness of the Louvre is its perimeter security, which has been a problem for a long time … certainly due to underinvestment,” she told the lawmakers.
According to des Cars, the only camera installed outside the Apollo Gallery was facing west and did not cover the area where the thieves broke into the museum.
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“The security system, as installed in the Apollo Gallery, worked perfectly,” des Cars continued. “The question that arises is how to adapt this system to a new type of attack and modus operandi that we could not have foreseen.
“Despite touting the security system within the Louvre as working properly, des Cars added, “Today we are witnessing a terrible failure at the Louvre. The security of the Louvre is one of my top priorities during my term of office, and I repeat that I was appalled by the museum’s security situation when I arrived in 2021.”
