The murky underworld where the Louvre thieves hope to hawk their stolen jewels

jewel thefts worth hundreds of millions of dollars over the past couple of decades.

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The stolen gems were made into jewelry in the 1800s.

(REUTERS)

But the Pink Panthers rarely leave behind any evidence, Wittman said, whereas the Louvre incident saw several missteps.

The team of four burglars at the Louvre parked a truck-mounted furniture lift on the street outside the Louvre Palace on Sunday morning and used its ladder to climb a window and break directly into one of the museum’s upper galleries, speeding away on scooters with the historic jewels in under seven minutes. But the thieves also left behind the furniture lift and the angle grinders they used to cut through the window and the display cases. They also left behind an element of their disguise—a yellow construction vest.

Most significantly, they dropped the 1855 crown of Empress Eugénie, Napoleon III’s wife, with nearly 1,400 diamonds and 56 emeralds. It was found damaged on the street outside the museum, officials said.

“Whoever did this is audacious, but amateurish,” Wittman said.