Louvre: Thieves could have been caught if guards had looked at cameras 30 seconds earlier

Two officials from the administrative investigation into security at the Louvre in Paris told the French Senate today that the thieves could have been caught if security members had viewed surveillance camera footage 30 seconds earlier, the French newspaper Le Parisien reported today.

The Senate today heard testimony from two officials leading an administrative investigation into security at the Louvre, launched after the October 19 theft of jewelry from the Paris museum.

"The security agents could have, if they had looked at the cameras 30 seconds earlier, prevented the thieves from escaping," Noel Corben, director of the Inspector General for Cultural Affairs, told the Senate Culture Committee.

Another investigator for the investigation, Pascal Mignere, from the Ministry of Culture's Security, Safety and Audit Mission, said that an external camera "clearly captured the arrival of the thieves, the setting up of the crane, the two thieves climbing onto the balcony and, a few minutes later, their rapid departure."

However, no one watched the footage live, and when the security guard activated it, "it was already too late, because the thieves had left the Apolo Gallery," where the stolen jewelry was on display.

One of the senators, centrist Laurent Lafon, said the report's conclusions indicated "a general failure by both the museum and its oversight body to address security concerns before the robbery."

The stolen jewelry is worth an estimated 88 million euros. Four people have been arrested in connection with the investigation, but the stolen artifacts have not been recovered.