PARIS: The Louvre has transferred some of its most valuable jewels to the Bank of France under police escort, French radio RTL reported on Saturday, following a daring daylight robbery that exposed major security flaws at the world’s most-visited museum.
The transfer of some precious items from the museum’s Apollo gallery, home to the French crown jewels, was carried out on Friday under secret police escort, RTL said, citing unnamed sources.
No official statement regarding the moving of the French crown jewels has been given by the Louvre or the Bank of France.
The Bank of France, which stores the country’s gold reserves in a massive vault 27 meters (88 feet) below ground, is just 500 meters away from the Louvre, on the Right Bank of the River Seine.
The thieves stole eight precious pieces worth an estimated $102 million from the Louvre’s collection on October 19, exposing security lapses as they broke into the world’s most-visited museum using a crane to smash an upstairs window during opening hours. They escaped on motorbikes.
News of the robbery reverberated around the world, prompting soul-searching in France over what some viewed as a national humiliation.
Earlier on Wednesday (Oct 22), the director of the Louvre, Laurence des Cars, admitted that there was inadequate security camera coverage of the outside walls of the museum.
“Despite our efforts, despite our hard work on a daily basis, we failed,” des Cars told lawmakers in her first public statement since the robbery. She added that while all alarms had functioned during the heist, security cameras did not adequately cover the thieves’ point of entry.
“The only camera installed is directed westward and therefore did not cover the balcony involved in the break-in,” she said.
“There are some perimeter cameras, but they are ageing.” Surveillance of the museum’s outside walls “is highly insufficient.”
