France will review the protection of cultural sites and beef up security as a manhunt was underway for the four people who staged an audacious daylight robbery at the Louvre museum. But what are the thieves likely to do with the stolen jewelry?

Paris

Four thieves carried out a well-planned daylight robbery at the Louvre Museum in Paris, stealing priceless jewels from the area housing the French crown jewels. Experts, including the founder of Art Recovery International, believe the stolen items are likely to be broken up, with gems such as diamonds, sapphires, and emeralds removed and recut in places like Antwerp or Tel Aviv to make them untraceable.

The theft, which lasted between six and seven minutes, has led to criticism of museum security and concerns about potential copycat crimes at other cultural institutions. France's Justice Minister called the ease of the heist a national embarrassment, and the Louvre remained closed as investigations continued.

What might the thieves do with France's stolen jewels?

It's the heist of the century, according to French newspapers on Monday, after four thieves stole priceless jewellery in broad daylight at the Louvre Museum in Paris. Right now it's a race between the police and their investigators. So what are the thieves likely to do with the stolen jewellery? Christopher Marinello is the founder of Art Recovery International. There's no way they can just submit these things to Sotheby's or Christie's and they need to break them up. And what they're going to do to hide them is open up the jewels and take out the diamonds and the sapphires and the emeralds and take them over to a place where they can have them recut in Antwerp or in Tel Aviv and find a jeweller that won't ask any questions. And once they're been cut into smaller jewels, the deed is done. It's over. Well, we'll never see these pieces again intact. The robbery, which took between six and seven minutes, has prompted France to re-evaluate the security of its cultural sites. The thieves used a crane to break into the Louvre, stealing priceless objects from an area that houses the French crown jewels before fleeing on motorbikes. It was a very well-planned theft, absolutely. The only clue that they left that should have raised a red flag was that the workers were working on the museum on a Sunday in Paris. Nobody works on Sunday in Paris at 9am. France's Justice Minister, Gérald Darmanin, criticised the ease with which the robbers executed the heist, calling it a national embarrassment. Despite confidence that the robbers will be caught, the incident has drawn criticism, and smaller museums around the world fear copycats. Here is Dutch art crime investigator Arthur Braun. If the Louvre can be robbed, how can we protect ourselves, you know? And they are afraid that local thieves will think, well, you know, they took it off with the Louvre, let's try our local museum. So that's the biggest fear now in the museum world. Meanwhile, the museum, which had been expected to reopen on Monday, remained closed. Clever to use a cherry picker and a glass cutter to steal priceless, well, sentimentally priceless jewels from the Louvre. The fact that it was done in daylight is also astounding, but if you look like you belong, you belong, so I guess they used that rule.

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