A giant "safe" underground: after the Louvre robbery, some of the jewelry was transported – RTL

After the theft of jewelry from the Louvre Museum in Paris, part of the jewelry collection was transferred to the Bank of France. About reports french radio RTL, citing its own interlocutors.

According to them, the transfer took place on Friday, October 24, under conditions of "strict secrecy and extreme security" – the exhibits were transported 300 meters from the Louvre to the Bank's vaults under the protection of a motorized convoy of the Paris police.

Five days after robbery of the Apollo Gallery in the case of the burglary of the Louvre by a group of four criminals, carried out with the help of a simple forklift parked under the Louvre windows, the state and the museum's management seem to have "decided not to take any risks, waiting for an assessment of possible security flaws," the media notes.

Details about the collections that were moved to the Bank are unknown, but according to RTL's interlocutors, both the "Crown Jewels" (from the time of the French kingdom, Napoleon I and Napoleon III – Ed.) from the Apollo Gallery and jewels from other parts of the Louvre were moved.

The museum itself did not want to comment on this data to the media and explain in detail the reasons for the transportation, and the Bank of France also did not respond to inquiries.

According to RTL, all the jewelry is placed in the main vault of the national bank, a giant "safe" located at a depth of 26 meters, where 90% of France's gold reserves are stored. According to interlocutors familiar with the situation, this move is exceptional. In particular, the Bank's vaults have been storing the precious notebooks of the artist Leonardo da Vinci for several years, the value of the collection of which is estimated at more than 600 million euros.

The investigation into the Louvre theft has not yet led to the arrest of four members of the group. Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said that law enforcement officers had collected more than 150 pieces of evidence (fingerprints, DNA, etc.), which are now being analyzed.

According to media estimates, the value of the eight stolen historical jewels is 88 million euros.

• On Sunday, October 19, eight precious pieces of jewelry were stolen from the Louvre, including tiaras, necklaces and earrings – Le Parisien newspaper showed photos of the stolen jewelry.
• The French Ministry of Culture has announced that the country will not receive payments for the jewelry stolen from the Louvre, as they were not insured by a private policy.
• The Paris prosecutor said that in the course of the investigation, the investigation managed to obtain eyewitness testimony.