The Louvre Museum in Paris has a substantial collection of royal jewelry consisting of crowns, necklaces, earrings, and other pieces embedded with priceless diamonds, emeralds and other precious stones. A gang of thieves carried out a daring heist and stole priceless Napoleonic jewelry in broad daylight this morning and a manhunt for them is on.

Masked suspects carried out the raid on Sunday morning, shortly after the museum opened and visitors were allowed. The Louvre was then evacuated. It remained closed on Sunday. 

The French interior minister Laurent Nunez said that the burglary was carried out within a few minutes. He also said that it “was obviously a very experienced team that acted very, very quickly.” He also expressed confidence that they would find the suspects and recover the stolen goods.

Paris police have opened a probe for “aggravated theft by an organized gang and criminal conspiracy to commit a felony.”

The ministry said thieves targeted the Galeria d’Apollon (Gallery of Apollo) at around 9.30 a.m. (local time). The gallery contains France’s royal jewels. 

The culture ministry released a detailed list of items that were stolen. They include a single earring from the sapphire parure of Queen Marie-Amélie and Queen Hortense. Another item of jewelry is an emerald necklace and a pair of emerald earrings from the parure of Empress Marie-Louise.

The jewelry stolen in the heist from Empress Eugénie include a “reliquary brooch,” a tiara and a large corsage bow brooch.

The thieves used a mechanical ladder that was positioned on a truck. They tried to set fire to it but were thwarted by a security officer. They abandoned the truck and fled in mopeds leaving behind “two angle grinders, a blowtorch, gasoline, gloves, a walkie talkie and a crown,” according to Le Parisien. A yellow vest was found a distance away from the crime scene.

The investigation is ongoing and the hunt for the thieves continues, to date.