Savewith a NBCUniversal ProfileCreate your free profile or log in to save this articleOct. 19, 2025, 6:49 AM EDT / Updated Oct. 19, 2025, 7:08 AM EDTBy Freddie Clayton and Jean-Nicholas FievetThieves stole priceless jewels from the world-famous Louvre in Paris in a daring heist early Sunday that forced the museum to close for the day, officials said.The thieves broke in using a ladder mounted on the back of a truck at around 9:30 a.m. local time (3:30 a.m. ET) as the museum was opening, French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez told radio station France Inter.The culprits stole jewels of “inestimable value,” before fleeing the scene on motor-scooters, he said, adding the operation “lasted seven minutes.”It was “manifestly a team that had done scouting,” he said, adding that the thieves broke into the Galerie d’Apollon by breaking an exterior window “with a disc cutter.”An image from the scene showed what appeared to be a furniture elevator propped up against a second floor balcony, with police gathered nearby to cordon off the area. ​“It was necessary to evacuate people,” added Nuñez. “Mainly to preserve evidence and clues so that investigators could work undisturbed.”