Louvre heist losses put at almost €90m as museum’s head prepares to face MPs

Police continue to search for the criminal gang behind the brazen robbery targeting France’s crown jewels

The financial loss from France’s most dramatic heist in decades has been put at nearly €90m as the head of the Louvre prepared to face difficult questions over how thieves were able to steal priceless jewellery in broad daylight.

As police continued to search for the criminal gang behind the brazen robbery on Sunday, the Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau told the broadcaster RTL that the museum’s curator had estimated the losses at about €88m (£76m).

The museum’s president and director, Laurence des Cars, is expected to respond to questions from the parliament’s culture committee on Wednesday afternoon, three days after the seven-minute robbery that targeted France’s crown jewels.

A gang of four thieves forced their way into the Louvre’s Apollo gallery shortly after the museum opened on Sunday morning, using a ladder from a furniture hoist on the street below and making off with eight pieces of Napoleonic jewellery.