One week on, a breakthrough in the Louvre heist that exposed weaknesses and wounded French pride

PARIS – A week after four thieves ran through the Louvre Just seven minutes later, the first arrests were made in a case that exposed critical security flaws and hurt French pride.

Robbers arrived early last Sunday a furniture forklift that cut through the window of the Galleria d'Apollo, threatened the guards and broke two shop windows, stealing eight french crown jewels. The four suspects then sped off on scooters before police could respond.

Their haul – necklaces, tiaras and brooches once worn by long-deceased members of France's royal family and estimated to be worth an estimated 88 million euros ($102.63 million) – has left investigators racing against time to recover the missing pieces before they can be dismantled, melted down or sold.

The arrests were made on Saturday, with one man arrested “ready to leave the country” from Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, Paris prosecutor Laura Becquo said. AFP reported that two men were taken into custody on suspicion of organized theft and criminal conspiracy.

But seven days later, a daring heist that affected France's national pride still raises vexing questions about how the world's most visited museum was so easily broken into.

Thieves parking with furniture lift — a truck with a basket lift — and used it to get onto a second-floor balcony, apparently without attracting the attention of police or security.

The presence of such manned vehicles on the streets near the Louvre is not unusual, museum security officials told NBC News, speaking before the arrests.

“There are often window cleaners here,” said Vanessa Michaud Valora, a 21-year museum security officer and SUD union representative. “Now we know they don't open on weekends anymore, but it didn't seem unusual at the time.”

Julien Dunoyer, a security officer and union representative who also has two decades of experience working at the museum, said there was work going on in the garden below the gallery so it was “not surprising that there was an elevator staircase there.”

“That’s the problem when there’s a lot of work in different places,” he said.

Valora and Dunoyer said they were working in different parts of the museum at the time of the theft and were unaware that a burglary had occurred when they were asked to evacuate people outside.

“We wondered if it could be an attack and we needed to make sure everyone was safe,” Valera said. “We didn't expect it to be so catastrophic. It's extremely shocking. We're really hurt.”

Laurence des Cars, director of the Louvre, told French senators on Wednesday that the theft exposed “weaknesses” in security.

“We didn't detect the thieves' arrival early enough,” she said, according to Reuters, blaming the fact that there weren't enough cameras outside monitoring the museum's perimeter.

Following the Louvre theft, the trade union SUD Culture blamed “the destruction of security jobs” and a lack of funding for security equipment. Gallery attendants, ticket counters and museum security staff. staged a short strike in June, citing chronic staff shortages and poor working conditions.

Earlier this year, French President Emmanuel Macron announced a six-year renovation of the museum, including funding for security upgrades.

For a nation whose character is defined by its proud display of history and culture, the incident is seen in some quarters as a national humiliation.

Macron called it “an attack on a heritage that we cherish because it is our history.” He promised to “restore the work, and those responsible will be brought to justice,” adding that “everything is being done everywhere to achieve this.”

Alexandre Portier, the lawmaker leading the French parliament's investigation into the theft, said the robbery had left a “wound” and fears were growing that the treasure would never be seen again.

“My concern is that, as we speak, the jewelry has already been disassembled, shredded and at risk of being altered,” Portier told NBC News before the arrests, in which case “even if we find all the items, we will not be able to put back together the stolen crowns and necklaces.”

The stolen items “belong to humanity as part of our shared history,” he added, and “they may be lost to all of humanity.”