The Louvre heist is a wake-up call: France’s most famous museum was far easier to breach than anyone wants to admit

This involved the theft of national treasures- pieces of jewellery with national and historic significance.

Then there is the financial value of these items which includes brooches and tiaras once worn by an Empress and by former Queens from France's royal past.

My work is in the personal safety and investigations field. This may involve the gathering of intelligence, surveillance and tracking.

My own experiences and the unique expertise of seasoned professionals from long serving law enforcement and military background proves invaluable when involved in a complex investigation whether it's about a robbery of a wealthy house in London or the devious actions of financial fraudsters.

It's been fascinating to look at this recent theft case that French law enforcement will no doubt be dedicating more hours than there are in the day in the hunt for the thieves.

My academic background is in Law and Criminology, so it's also interesting to look at such incidents from a profiling perspective.

Thieves in this heist were organised and efficient. The whole theft took place in a very short space of time. It seems they would have carried out previous reconnaissance of the museum, looking for gaps and areas to exploit.

They may even have used a third party to carry out the preliminary scoping. This may have taken place over months and across multiple visits, at various times of the day.

Law enforcement will now be involved in painstaking work scanning through hours of CCTV footage to look for any indications of perimeter testing and individuals showing more interest in internal activity and security systems, as opposed to the famous art pieces.

The thieves chose a Sunday morning to execute their plan.

Fans of heist movies may automatically think that night time would be a favourable time but they chose an unassuming time of the day where given it was a Sunday, it would be easier to make a getaway with less traffic on the roads.

Mornings might also have been chosen as it's time with the museum, just opening for the day, when internal security personnel may not be so awake and ready to respond.

Many will also be wondering whether the gang had inside information and invariably police will be questioning current staff, former employees and also individuals with some kind of intimate understanding of the museum.

There are so many ways for thieves to gather data or information relating to vulnerabilities or fault lines within a facility or building. Human intelligence is but one.

Although there was the use of sudden aggression and intimidation by the thieves. There was no unleashing of violence. They got in; they got out.

This reminds me of some of the raids that were taking place in the South Of France some years back, which some experts believed were carried out by foreign gangs with previous elite military training, due to the clinical timing and control of vehicle when ramming jewellery stores.

These thieves at The Louvre scaled the lift using a VML (vehicle mounted ladder) displaying some agility and focus.

Then, there was the attempted burning of the vehicle outside, which may have been to avoid a forensic trail and disruption helps with a getaway.

The panicking visitors fleeing the scene would have served as some sort of distraction for the staff. It's likely that some visitors would have thought it was a terror based incident, given the number of attacks that have taken place in Europe including Paris.

One question I would raise is that why wasn't more done to sharpen the security measures of this most famous of France's cultural establishments?

Trained penetration testers would invariably have found blind spots such as the ease of access to the floor where the robbery took place.

The items they chose to steal are clearly seen as national treasures and a symbol of national France and its culture. Until probing further, I can't say there was definitely something intentional about choosing these symbolic items. It may not have any political motivations and may just be case of criminals looking for financial gain.

Still, clearly they don't feel that familiar French pride for art and national heritage.

My investigations associate- a former senior detective with CID points out that now a key part of the investigation will involve a focus on the vehicles used.

There may be a trail relating to how these vehicles were acquired and where they show up on CCTV footage. With all the attention on this, there is a high chance the gang will be caught.

There may also be small yet useful details from witnesses who saw and heard the thieves that may prove valuable. In the investigations world, never underestimate how a seemingly small clue can provide value.

In breaching the Galerie d'Apollon, rapid as it was- the criminals haven't exactly stolen fire from the gods but the taking of these priceless items, will not be taken lightly.

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Aran Dharmeratnam is a private security consultant and a specialist in self-protection training. He also works with security companies involved in private investigations and risk intelligence.

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