Video shows Louvre thief breaking into glass as manhunt continues

Joseph Wilkinson, New York Daily News on Oct 20, 2025

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A small portion of the shocking heist at the Louvre was apparently captured on cellphone video by a daring visitor.

The video, obtained by French network BFMTV, shows a person in a high visibility vest appearing to use a small battery-powered saw to cut through glass at the world famous museum.

In the clip, the person’s back is turned to the camera. They are wearing black pants with a black hooded sweatshirt under the vest. The rest of the room is empty; security guards had steered visitors away from the heist as it occurred.

The thief seen in the video is believed to be one of four crooks who are now the subject of a global manhunt. The thieves rode a basket lift up to a second floor balcony, then smashed through a window, threatened guards with angle grinders and cut through glass display cases to steal eight items.

The robbers were only inside the museum for 4 minutes, and the entire operation took fewer than 8 minutes, authorities said. They made their getaway on two motorbikes, but officials said Monday the bikes had been located.

Jewelry experts say police are now in a race against time before the thieves likely melt down and recut the jewels so they can be sold.

They “are not going to keep them intact, they are going to break them up, melt down the valuable metal, recut the valuable stones and hide evidence of their crime,” Chris Marinello, the chief executive of Art Recovery International, told the BBC.

Sunday morning’s operation, completed about 30 minutes after the Louvre opened, is likely now the second-most shocking heist in the museum’s history, behind only the 1911 theft of the Mona Lisa.

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