Louvre Heist Documentary Reveals Unseen Footage on France 2

On May 7, 2025, France 2 airs a 50-minute 'Complément d'enquête' documentary titled 'Musée du Louvre : dans les coulisses du casse du siècle' about the October 19, 2025 theft of eight historic jewels from the Louvre's Galerie d'Apollon. The film, by Pierre-Stéphane Fort, Henri Dreyfus, and Marielle Krouk, features exclusive surveillance footage showing two masked men using a hoist and angle grinder to steal the jewels in 3 minutes 19 seconds, while two accomplices waited outside. The thieves entered via a balcony and French window, escaping to a parking lot in Aubervilliers. The crown of Empress Eugénie was damaged during the escape. Security lapses are scrutinized: a 2018 audit by Jean-Louis Monnier for Van Cleef & Arpels had flagged the French window as a weak point, but the report was not passed to then-director Laurence des Cars by her predecessor Jean-Luc Martinez. Former culture minister Roselyne Bachelot criticizes des Cars, while Rima Abdul Malak calls it a collective failure. Four suspects were arrested within six weeks, including Niakate Abdoulaye ('Doudou Cross Bitume') and Ayed Ghelamallah. Prosecutor Laure Beccuau offers reduced sentences for revealing the jewels' location. The Louvre's €1 billion renovation project 'Louvre Nouvelle Renaissance' aims to fix security by 2032. Patricia Tourancheau's book 'Le Casse du Louvre' is also released on May 7.