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The jewels stolen from the Louvre in an audacious raid are worth an estimated €88 million (£76 million), according to a Paris prosecutor. Masked men broke into the museum in Paris on Sunday and plucked the Napoleonic items during an eight-minute raid. The four suspects used a truck-mounted ladder to gain access to the Galerie d'Apollon via a balcony near the River Seine at around 9.30am local time. Two of them then cut through a glass window using a disc cutter and threatened the guards inside, before fleeing the scene on scooters. They attempted to set fire to their vehicle outside but were prevented by the intervention of a member of staff. Around 100 investigators are currently helping the police hunt the men who took the gems from the world's most-visited museum. Laure Beccuau, the Paris prosecutor whose office is leading the investigation, told Radio Television Luxembourg the sum of the eight stolen goods was "extraordinary". But the lawyer said the greater loss was to the country’s heritage, including tiara and necklace from the set of Queen Marie-Amelie and Queen Hortense. Other items that are missing include a diamond "reliquary brooch" and a corsage bow brooch of Empress Eugenie. Experts fear the items have been broken down into precious metals and gems, smuggled out of France or sold for a fraction of their worth. But Ms Beccuau hopes that by revealing their estimated worth it would make the robbers think twice about destroying them. France’s justice minister Gérald Darmanin said security protocols had "failed" when it transpired that one in three rooms lacked CCTV and that its wider alarm system did not go off. France’s culture minister Rachida Dati recently launched an inquiry, in addition to the criminal probe, to establish what happened. Describing the heist as "a wound for all of us", she said: “It's a showcase for our French culture and our shared patrimony." The Louvre, which receives approximately nine million visitors annually, is home to some of history's most iconic works of art. The Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci and the ancient Greek sculpture Venus de Milo can be found in the gallery in the city's 1st arrondissement.
