What appears to be footage of the robbers’ escape from the Louvre Museum during Sunday’s brazen daylight heist shows the thieves making off with precious items valued at more than $100 million.
The video, obtained by French outlet BFMTV, shows two men getting away on a powered, extendable ladder as the basket slowly lowers to the ground outside of the world’s most-visited museum.
The men, one in a neon vest and the other wearing a motorcycle helmet, don’t seem to be in any rush as they make their escape from the Louvre to the ground of the stolen truck outside the museum, following the heist that lasted less than eight minutes.
Once they reach the ground, they’re no longer in view of the camera, but police said they escaped on motorbikes.
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The footage is shot from the inside of the Louvre on Sunday, overlooking the Seine, according to the Telegraph. The original source of the video has not been confirmed.
The French prosecutor’s office said they are aware of the video, but declined to comment, citing the integrity of the ongoing investigation.
Cambriolage au Louvre: les images des suspects quittant le musée dans un monte-charge pic.twitter.com/67mJKJmyNq
— BFMTV (@BFMTV) October 23, 2025
The investigation continues
Prosecutor Laure Beccuau said expert analyses are underway and that four people have been identified as participating in the robbery. The prosecutor added that a team of about 100 investigators have been assigned to the crime.
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Investigators have found traces of DNA samples in a helmet and gloves and are aware of the new video showing two of the thieves escaping, prosecutors told NBC News.
The prosecutor’s office added that it is currently unclear if the DNA belonged to the suspects who took off with the jewels from the robbery. Detectives continue to analyze video camera footage from around the museum as well as main highways in Paris for signs of the robbers.
The jewels remain missing and the thieves are still at large after breaking into the second-floor Galerie d’Apollon (Apollo’s Gallery), housing the crown jewels, officials said.
This photo, provided on Oct. 23, 2025, by Interpol and taken from its website, shows the jewels stolen in the Louvre Museum on Oct.19, 2025, in Paris.
Interpol via AP
The heist took place about 30 minutes after the museum opened, with visitors already inside, and unfolded just 250 metres from the famed Mona Lisa.
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Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said the crew entered from outside using a cherry picker via the riverfront facade to reach the hall with the 23-item royal collection.
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The thieves smashed two display cases with an angle grinder, Nunez said. Alarms brought Louvre agents to the room, forcing the intruders to bolt, but the theft was already done.
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Beccuau said that the thieves threatened museum guards with the angle grinder they used to break into the jewelry cases before they fled.
The Louvre’s director Laurence des Cars faced questioning by a cultural committee at the French Senate on Wednesday amid questions over the museum’s security.
Des Cars said that the museum had a shortage of security cameras outside the monument, and had other “weaknesses” exposed by Sunday’s theft.
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“Today we are experiencing a terrible failure at the Louvre, which I take my share of responsibility in,” she said.
Laurence des Cars, director of Le Louvre Museum, poses before a hearing at the Culture commission of the Senate, three days after historic jewels were stolen in a daring daylight heist, on Oct. 22, 2025, in Paris.
AP Photo/Emma Da Silva
“We did not detect the arrival of the thieves soon enough,” des Cars added.
She said that the museum’s alarms had worked properly, but that it currently doesn’t have full video surveillance of the perimeter outside the museum, though there is a plan to provide full coverage of all the Louvre’s facades. The only camera over the Apollo Gallery, said des Cars, was facing west and didn’t capture the balcony where the break-in took place.
She also suggested barriers to prevent vehicles from parking directly alongside the museum’s buildings, and said that she would push for a police station inside the museum, which welcomes 30,000 visitors a day and 2,300 workers.
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Des Cars added that during Sunday’s robbery, Louvre agents “were not armed” and that they “followed the security protocol with responsiveness, precision and composure.”
“Thanks to their professionalism, no one was injured. In this nightmare, no human life was affected,” she added.
Aftermath following the heist
The manufacturer of the cherry picker used in the Louvre burglary has taken advantage of the opportunity by using it as an advertisement on social media.
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They shared a photo from the heist with the equipment outside the Louvre and added the slogan, “When you have to act quickly.”
“The Böcker Agilo can transport up to 400 kg of treasure, at a speed of 42 m/minute, thanks to a motor as quiet as a whisper,” the German company added.
In an interview with AFP on Wednesday, Alexander Böcker, an executive at the company, said that he “sold this freight elevator a few years ago to a French customer who rents this type of equipment in Paris and the surrounding area.”
He said that the customer wishes to remain anonymous and confirmed they had the device stolen by the alleged thieves of the Louvre theft during a demonstration last week.
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“They removed the customer’s logo and changed the licence plate,” he added.
After learning about the robbery, Böcker said he quickly realized it was his company’s equipment used outside of the Louvre.
“When it became clear that no one had been injured in the robbery, we took it with a bit of humour,” he said, adding that he “started thinking about how we could perhaps use it.”
That’s when he said his wife came up with the slogan: “When you have to act quickly.”
It appears furniture giant Ikea has also seized the opportunity to advertise a glass dome with a base.
“Won’t protect your crown jewels either … but it will give them the right spotlight,” the company wrote on Instagram.
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Meanwhile, the Louvre changed its slogan on its website’s homepage following the heist, which used to read: “Escape to the Louvre.”
The message has now been switched to “Louvre Museum” after updating the previous slogan, which had been displayed since the end of March 2021, according to a press release from the museum.
Sur son site, le Louvre a supprimé son slogan “évadez-vous au Louvre”.
Avant/après pic.twitter.com/bNMRdA3Uu2
— Raphael Grably (@GrablyR) October 23, 2025
The investigation is ongoing.
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— With files from The Associated Press
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
