Newly surfaced CCTV footage from Paris’s Louvre Museum shows one of the suspected robbers cutting through a glass display case with a mini chainsaw during Sunday morning’s daring jewel heist. According to French authorities, three robbers disguised as construction workers breached the museum’s security in under ten minutes and stole millions of dollars’ worth of priceless gems in front of visitors and staff.

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Louvre heist: CCTV captures robber cutting through glass 

The video, first reported by French outlet BFMTV, shows a man wearing a yellow jacket (normally worn by construction workers) over a black hoodie, slicing into the glass as alarms started ringing. Unbothered by the sound, he continued to cut through the case and the video ends. The moment he leaves the gallery is not captured. Investigators later found a Stihl TS 410 power saw abandoned at the scene.

What were the gems stolen?

According to Paris magistrate Laure Beccuau, the robbers took away nine priceless artefacts from France’s Crown Jewels. This included a diamond-encrusted bodice bow, which once belonged to Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III. That piece alone, made from 2,634 diamonds, was valued at over $10.5 million when the museum acquired it in 2008. Another stolen items is a crown of Empress Eugénie, which was later found damaged near the gallery. A diamond and sapphire tiara, along with matching earrings and a necklace belonging to Queen Marie-Amélie and Queen Hortense, are also missing. An emerald necklace and earrings once owned by Marie-Louise were stolen too. “We have CCTV footage from the museum itself,” Beccuau told authorities, according to NY Post, adding that the suspected thieves were highly “prepared” and “organised” for the heist.

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While only three were captured, authorities said the gang of four arrived at around 9:30 am. They reportedly used an aerial lift to reach a second-floor window of the Louvre’s Apollon Gallery. The area is currently under renovation and then sliced the window down. The entire break-in lasted less than ten minutes.

Surveillance footage shows the robbers escaping on two scooters, heading toward the A6 highway, southeast out of Paris. A third scooter was later found abandoned nearby. French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the robbery as “an attack on our national heritage and that the perpetrators will be brought to justice.” He added, “We will recover the works, and the treasures of France will return home.”

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