LISTEN: What we know about the Louvre crown jewel heist as told by AP reporter John Leicester

John Leicester, chief correspondent: The theft itself is really only the beginning of the story. There’s so much that hasn’t been told yet. I mean, first of all, where are the gems? What’s going to happen to them?

PANJWANI: I’m Haya Panjwani. On this episode of The Story Behind the AP Story, Leicester talks about the heist at the Louvre, where thieves broke into the Apollo Gallery with power tools, cut into display cases, and stole jewels valued at $102 million.

LEICESTER: It was a Sunday morning and I was listening to the radio as I often do and when they first said that jewels had been stolen from this museum, I mean it’s a high, you know, it’s a high security museum, at first I really honestly thought that I’d misheard it. It just seemed so unfeasible really that, you know, in the space of four minutes robbers would be able to like go up on a ladder into this Apollo Gallery, I mean I’ve been there and it’s an amazing gallery and break into these these high security glass showcases for you know probably the most historic and valuable collection of jewels in all of France.

And I think a lot of people were just kind of shocked and stunned basically. 88 million euros, $102 million worth of diamonds, rubies, sapphires, pearls being stolen in such a brazen, daylight robbery. It didn’t really need to be in France for it to have made headlines. I think if this had happened anywhere, that would have made the headlines. But you know, the fact that it’s happened in the world’s most visited museum, the fact it happened just 250-odd meters away from where the Mona Lisa is, the fact its in a place that, you know even if you haven’t been there, you’ve probably seen photos of the glass pyramid that is at the entrance of the Louvre. I mean, it’s all, all of these things have come together to make it just an incredible story.

So the Apollo Gallery that, where they’re kept, it’s beautiful. I mean it’s gold, gold-gild paint, fantastically painted ceilings. I mean its really like stepping into, well it is stepping into a French king’s palace essentially because that’s what the Louvre used to be and now it’s a museum but it’s it’s just an incredible place.

The collection of crown jewels in France actually dates back hundreds of years. It was Francois Premier in the 16th century who decided that France should have its own national crown jewels and he started this collection that gradually has been building up over the centuries. I mean at some at one point it was up to tens of thousands of gems.

Louis XIV, he, the Sun King, he was a big fan of jewels. One of the diamonds that was stolen was apparently, it’s a big thing, it looks about the size of a plum. It used to be one of his coat buttons and then became an earring used by Marie Antoinette. And you know, all of these gems have, these jewels have a part of France’s history. And that’s why also apart from the monetary value, the emotional value, I think, has been the shock, the emotional shock that it’s been for the French. It’s really, you know, people talk about this being as painful as watching Notre Dame burn in 2019.

PANJWANI: Since the robbery, the Paris prosecutor says four suspects are in custody as part of the investigation. That includes three believed to be members of the team of four that was filmed using a freight lift to reach the museum’s window to gain access. But the gems are still missing.

LEICESTER: A terrible fate could await them. They’re so, they’re so famous that you couldn’t sell them on as as they are. They’d have to be chopped up, melted down, the gems would have to be recut, that’s what the experts that we’ve been talking to have been saying. So, you know, that’s one of the big questions going forward is will France be able to recover any of these gems as they are. It just seems incredible that, you know, two men could climb up a ladder that they could come along on a Sunday and park their ladder outside outside the world’s most visited museum, sort of clamber up onto the first floor balcony, break in with disk cutters, four minutes later come back down with all of this loot and all the stuff that they’ve taken and then disappear off on motorbikes.

PANJWANI: This has been the story behind the AP story. I’m your host, Haya Panjwani. This story is continuing to develop as the investigation moves along. For more on this, past episodes of the show, and other AP stories, visit apnews.com.