Don't You FORGET ABOUT ME

Months after the heist that shook the world, the news has quieted, but the jewels are still missing and mysteries remain. Where are those guys they arrested, and who is the suspect known as LASER?

- BY SIMON KUPER

Empress Eugénie's crown, damaged during the robbery, will be restored.

The French media are calling it the heist of the century: the theft of royal jewels from the Louvre on October 19 last year. Months later the embarrassed authorities have caught four suspects and extracted some confessions. But mysteries remain: Where are the jewels? And who are the criminal masterminds thought to have ordered the job?

The theft happened in broad daylight in the middle of Paris, on a quiet Sunday morning soon after the world’s most visited museum opened. A flatbed truck pulled up outside and unrolled a ladder. Two men climbed up to the second floor, then broke into the Apollo Gallery's balcony through the sort of rickety door that, an official inquiry found, you might find in a country cottage. In less than four minutes they cut open glass cases protecting the 19th-century jewels. The haul included two French royal tiaras and an emerald necklace and a pair of emerald earrings that had belonged to Empress Marie Louise. The thieves made a failed attempt to burn the truck, then fled on scooters, 30 seconds ahead of the museum's security, which, regrettably, had taken a wrong turn.

In their haste the men dropped Empress Eugénie's crown. They also left behind items with traces of their DNA, including a motorcycle helmet and vest.