“When you have to act quickly”, we read in an announcement from the manufacturer of the hoist used by the thieves to take jewels worth 88 million euros from the Paris museum. The German company Böcker, manufacturer of the hoist used by the thieves who robbed the Louvre Museum in Paris last Sunday (19/10), launched an advertising message on social media recalling the equipment’s participation in what many have already considered the robbery of the century.
“When you need to act quickly. The Böcker Agilo transports your treasures up to 400 kilograms at 42 meters per minute, as silent as a whisper thanks to its 230 V electric motor,” reads the message published by the family company, based in Werne an der Lippe, western Germany.
The phrase accompanies a photo of the isolated area near the Louvre where the elevator was found.
Among the hundreds of comments reacting to the publication, some Internet users praised the company’s marketing. Some jokingly called for a pay rise for the team responsible, while others criticized the joke about the crime.
According to The Guardian newspaper, the company’s marketing and communications manager acknowledges that the robbery was a “reprehensible act”, but that “after it became clear that no one was hurt, we started making some jokes and thinking together about slogans that we thought were funny”, he said.
“Negative image” of France
The Louvre Museum estimates the value of the eight French crown jewels stolen from the Apollo Gallery by a group of four people at 88 million euros (around 550 million reais). One of the jewels was recovered by the police after the criminals dropped it in the street while fleeing.
For French Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin, the incident shows a “very negative” image of France. “It is certain that we have failed,” he told France Inter radio.
The museum’s director, Laurence des Cars, this week called the theft “an immense wound.” He admitted that external surveillance via cameras is a weak point in the security system.
With their faces covered so as not to be identified, the thieves arrived in the south wing of the Louvre, on the banks of the Seine, at 9.30am local time. They had two motorbikes and a truck equipped with a Böcker Agilo furniture lift, with which two of them climbed to the first floor.
After punching a hole in the glass and breaking the jewelery displays, they fled on a motorbike seven minutes after arriving. The group unsuccessfully attempted to set the truck on fire and abandoned it near the Louvre.
Scharwatz also told the Guardian that, in 2020, Böcker sold the mobile freight elevator to a company in the Paris region, which rented it out. The equipment was recently stolen during an operational demonstration for customers interested in renting it.
ht/md (EFE, Lusa, ots)
Source: Terra
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