A Louvre security guard has described how he found a £10m royal crown on the floor outside the museum, after four thieves wielding power tools broke into the building in broad daylight.
Frédéric Serrier headed directly to the exterior of the Apollo Gallery just after the robbery took place, when he stumbled upon the 170-year-old crown once worn by French Empress Eugénie, on Sunday morning (19 October).
"I’m certain that it was the thieves’ panic at seeing our colleagues arrive that made them lose their composure. As they climbed back over the balcony railing, they dropped the crown", he said.
A number of people have been arrested over the theft of jewels from the Louvre, the Paris prosecutor has said.
