this post was submitted on 03 Nov 2025
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The brazen daytime heist at the Louvre was carried out by petty criminals rather than professionals from the world of organised crime, the Paris prosecutor has said, describing two of the suspects as a couple with children.

The assertion comes two weeks after thieves parked a stolen truck outside the world’s most-visited museum, used a furniture lift to reach the first floor, then smashed their way into one of the museum’s most ornate rooms. Less than seven minutes later, they escaped on scooters with crown jewels worth an estimated €88m (£76m).

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[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago

Mega-Cyber-Hackers too! They cracked the hyper-secure password for the video system. The password was LOUVRE.

[–] SlartyBartFast@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

How do they know?

[–] markovs_gun@lemmy.world 6 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

This is pretty much always the case with high profile heists like this. Organized criminals are usually smart enough to realize that selling incredibly famous stolen objects is basically impossible, and the people who steal them are too stupid to realize that.

[–] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 10 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

I mean there is an entire black market of stolen paintings in private collections, so clearly not impossible.

[–] Natanael 0 points 6 hours ago

Those thefts are rarely random, though

[–] shalafi@lemmy.world 12 points 20 hours ago (2 children)

So if this wasn't organized crime, how they hell did they think they would fence priceless treasures?! Maybe they were cold-blooded enough to chop it all up into bits, get what they could, but FFS, no fence would touch that shit for years, if not a decade+.

You would have to have billionaire buyers lined up, kinda people who have the money to stash such goods in a private collection, and I doubt even the wealthiest would risk it. Who could they show it to?! I wouldn't let my own wife know I had such a thing under our roof.

To paraphrase: If you're going to steal the king's shit, you better not fail selling it.

[–] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 3 points 7 hours ago

Who could they show it to?!

Their rich amoral friends on their private islands that don't have law enforcement. But how random poor's would ever get in touch with a billionaire to sell the jewels I don't know.

[–] ripcord@lemmy.world 5 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

Melt it down for raw value, I assume.

[–] krooklochurm@lemmy.ca 2 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

You can melt down jewels now?

[–] poopkins@lemmy.world 2 points 7 hours ago (2 children)

A jeweler who won't ask questions will cut them into smaller stones. Nobody's checking their origins.

[–] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 3 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago) (1 children)

Yeah but it's devastating to resale value. A gem twice the size can be worth orders of magnitude more than the other. Talking about reducing something worth probably a third or half billion dollars to maybe a few million in scrap value.

[–] poopkins@lemmy.world 3 points 5 hours ago
[–] krooklochurm@lemmy.ca 1 points 7 hours ago

"Bro toss some more diamonds and emeralds in the crucible"

[–] Mongostein@lemmy.ca 115 points 1 day ago (3 children)

If they’re petty criminals, what does that say about Louvre security?

[–] tino@lemmy.world 11 points 11 hours ago

The Louvre employees raised warnings for years about the lack of funds leading to poor security for the employees, the visitors and the collections. https://globalnation.inquirer.net/295647/louvre-heist-lays-bare-museum-security-complaints

[–] blave@lemmy.world 38 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Yeah, exactly. This article seems to be trying to insult the criminals, but it just makes the Louvre look even worse.

[–] scarabic@lemmy.world 14 points 1 day ago (1 children)

That’s what I thought at first but the headline leaves out “from the world of organized crime.”

It sounds like they are making the distinction between organized crime and thieves operating on their own aka “petty criminals.” The word “petty” has many pejorative connotations but it can also just mean small in scale or scope, and that appears to be the meaning here.

[–] blave@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You’re over analyzing this. They’re very likely was a “original headline“ written by the author of the article, then some copywriter or copy editor gotten involved, whose job is to increase clicks and engagement, and so the headline got walked into something more salacious.

[–] scarabic@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

You just added more analysis :D

I’m just pointing out the words actually used in the article and what they mean. I’m sure you’re right about how it got this way.

[–] tomiant@piefed.social 11 points 1 day ago (2 children)
[–] radiofreebc@lemmy.world 7 points 18 hours ago (1 children)
[–] agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works 13 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

Is there a term for when a pun just winds up being etymology?

[–] frongt@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 hours ago

Short-circuit language?

[–] Natanael 1 points 6 hours ago
[–] Mongostein@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 day ago

Maybe if they weren’t so petty they would have done their jobs ;)

[–] tomiant@piefed.social 57 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

I think it's petty to call them petty criminals when they stole from the Louvre! No honor among journalists. At the bare minimum, you gotta give them cred for showing initiative and go outside their comfort zone. In any workplace these guys would be promotion material. They're branching out, aiming higher.

Respect the ambition.

edit: would love to sit in on their meetings

[–] nate3d@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago

Turns out hard work CAN get you recognized

[–] Jessvj93@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

The world has been BEGGING for a new class of criminal.

[–] black_flag@lemmy.dbzer0.com 19 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Maybe they were petty criminals... Seems like they got organized now haha

[–] tomiant@piefed.social 6 points 1 day ago

Imagine the street cred!

[–] rem26_art@fedia.io 30 points 1 day ago

if this was their first job, then boy I can't wait to see where their new art thief careers take them

[–] HeartyOfGlass@piefed.social 13 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

So the Louvre is staffed exclusively by clowns.

[–] dream_weasel@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Idk... I mean how many robberies have you stopped in your life? Are you a clown? 🤷

[–] HeartyOfGlass@piefed.social 1 points 1 hour ago

You mean - How many times have I been employed as a security guard? A security guard for some of the world's most valuable art, in the world's most famous art museum? Is that what you mean? "How many robberies have you stopped where it was specifically your job to prevent such an occurrence?"

I'm a bit of a clown, but your question is beyond even my ability.

[–] mctoasterson@reddthat.com 9 points 1 day ago (2 children)

What's really odd is that France already pays Gendarmerie to stand around in public places, protect cultural assets etc.

If even one dude was standing in the corner of the gallery with a rifle slung up that day, that would likely have deterred the entire theft.

[–] Wispy2891@lemmy.world 5 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Museum protocol during active robbery is to escort visitors to the nearest exit first and only after take care of the criminals

[–] mctoasterson@reddthat.com 1 points 17 hours ago

Sure, but in my view a bunch of dudes standing around with rifles is enough of a visual deterrent that it should never escalate to the point of "active robbery".

[–] tomiant@piefed.social 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

We need more guards with MP5s?

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 2 points 20 hours ago (2 children)

They're French so I would think P90s instead of MP5s.

[–] Akasazh@feddit.nl 4 points 8 hours ago

Famas, last time I was there

[–] tomiant@piefed.social 1 points 11 hours ago

We need more French?