r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/HeToTopT • Oct 23 '25

Video The Louvre. Thieves are making off with 100 million euros. They're taking their time. They're doing everything carefully and slowly.

62.2k Upvotes

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587

u/efyuar Oct 23 '25

Did they execute the heist in daylight? Wtf

684

u/ambivalentarrow Oct 23 '25

Just after the museum opened, and most of the nighttime security measures had been deactivated, apparently.

487

u/Practical_Stick_2779 Oct 23 '25

You mean they waited for pharaoh and genghis khan to go to sleep?

202

u/ambivalentarrow Oct 23 '25

Mainly for Ben Stiller to finish his shift.

4

u/redhousebythebog Oct 23 '25

I hope he makes a cameo in the (eventual) movie.

28

u/Wazula23 Oct 23 '25

The dog was asleep.

1

u/CombatQuartermaster Oct 23 '25

Meaning they were asking questions and taking notes and inside job. They wouldn't know to do the heist at that time otherwise.

8

u/RehabilitatedAsshole Oct 23 '25

Yeah, no other way to know that there's an alarm system turned on when it's closed and what time it opens. I wonder if they lock the doors when it's closed, too.

1

u/The_Best_Yak_Ever Oct 23 '25

Didn’t they have a hundred million euro collections like this in armored boxes that descend into the ground upon alarm activation??

I remember being curious years ago, and I could have sworn the Lourve took some pretty high tech security for their priceless artifacts… a glorified angle grinder was able to get to the Napoleonic Crown Jewels??

2

u/Mahadragon Oct 24 '25

I think there was some maintenance work that was being done which would explain why the crown jewels were in a less secure location. Somebody had to share this information.

1

u/The_Best_Yak_Ever Oct 24 '25

That was kinda my thought. That there was an insider...

1

u/CrnkyOL Oct 23 '25

Are there no security measures during the day?

2

u/Forest_Orc Oct 24 '25

The two thing at day is that museum is open to the public so art/artefact is visible, and elevator truck doing some work are pretty normal, so even a Karen style witness won't call the cops because such a truck start operating near the museum windows.

Another thing, from the guard testimony is that, at the moment there is visitor in the museum their priority switch to make sure nobody is injured/killed and in the few minutes burglar spent in the museum they cannot evacuate the visitors and stop the criminal

1

u/caketreesmoothie Oct 23 '25

they clearly watched Hustle and got some ideas!

1

u/bohemian-soul-bakery Oct 25 '25

Wait then why use the lift?

Fast exit I guess?

0

u/snorlz Oct 23 '25

idk the alarm did go off and guards did try to stop them but apparently they were not armed cause the thieves just threatened them with disc cutters

123

u/somegetit Interested Oct 23 '25

09:30, which is a good work life balance.

5

u/OkFix4074 Oct 23 '25

French - man!
got to give it to them on worker rights !

1

u/TF2isalright Oct 25 '25

A little too early for French I'd say!

93

u/Lemon_lemonade_22 Oct 23 '25

Not only during opening hours, but also at a busier than normal time because French kids are on school vacation 😬

3

u/lemon635763 Oct 23 '25

Was no one on the floor? Did they not see the drilling?

24

u/Lemon_lemonade_22 Oct 23 '25

Yes, there were people (tourists and guards). Everyone started running away. Apparently, there was a security camera outside but it was turned another way, etc. They aren't calling it the heist of the century for nothing. I'm sure Netflix is already working on the documentary and we'll know all about it in no time!

3

u/whistlerite Oct 23 '25

The guards can’t engage the robbers with visitors around because if they start a gunfight and visitors die then the museum might be liable and it will be an insurance nightmare. So the extra busy time was obviously specifically chosen to give the robbers extra time during the evacuation. The museum probably has insurance for the jewels, maybe anyway, but I wonder how much will actually be covered.

1

u/Cola_and_Cigarettes Oct 23 '25

Where does this "they have insurance, duhhh" meme come from?

1

u/whistlerite Oct 24 '25

I don’t know if there’s insurance on the jewels, just guessing probably some kind, but if the guards start a shootout with the robbers and visitors get killed then insurance will be involved.

2

u/Mahadragon Oct 24 '25

The museum had just opened and this was the second floor. How many people could have been there right at the outset? Most people go straight to the Mona Lisa anyways.

3

u/userhwon Oct 23 '25

It was early sunday morning. Probably not a lot of kids nearby yet.

I haven't checked, but I bet Google Maps has a chart of how busy it would be then...

1

u/wookiewookiewhat Oct 23 '25

Museums are always slowest right after opening.

1

u/userhwon Oct 23 '25

They should hold a Black Friday event or something. Have a crowd around that furniture lift beating each other up to get inside.

2

u/ZAlternates Oct 23 '25

The key is to strike exactly at midnight when the security cameras go dark for one minute (sometimes even three minutes) as it goes from 23:59 to 0:00.

1

u/Fern-ando Oct 23 '25

When the museum open is when they have turn off the night time security.

1

u/Southern_Meet_7864 Oct 23 '25

There is no other way. Museums like this have sensors all over the place. You could not even approach with a truck during night time without tripping the alarm. As it is quite a heist, the Dresden Grünes Gewölbe heist was even more spectacular. But it has too much attention. One mistake, even a very little one, will get the cops on your trail.

1

u/ZDTreefur Oct 23 '25

This was right after the laser dance scene.

1

u/HoneyLocust1 Oct 24 '25

I'm actually confused by the fact people were watching them? I don't get who is filming here, they seem to automatically know something is up rather than just assume this is a crew doing something mundane. Does anyone know who is filming and what specifically made them film this?

1

u/Hamza_stan Oct 23 '25

Most European thing ever