‘Quiet as a whisper’: German firm flaunts freight lift used in Louvre heist

Days after the brazen heist at France’s iconic Louvre museum, the German company that manufactured the freight lift used in the crime by thieves has seized the opportunity to promote their device by posting tongue-in-cheek adverts on social media that quickly went viral. Böcker Maschinenwerke GmbH, a lifting equipment maker based near Dortmund, advertised the truck, posting a picture of it outside the Paris museum.

“IF YOU’RE IN A HURRY. The Böcker Agilo carries your treasures up to 400 kg at 42 m/min,” the caption read. “Quiet as a whisper thanks to its 230 V electric motor.”

Alexander Böcker, managing director of the company, told AFP that the lift was sold “a few years ago to a French customer who rents this type of equipment in Paris and the surrounding area.” Similar equipment is commonly seen around Paris, where most apartment buildings have small or no elevators.

The thieves who stole the French crown jewels from the Louvre last week used one such truck to break into the Apollo Gallery shortly after the opening of the museum in broad daylight and managed to flee with eight precious pieces. The stolen items include an emerald-and-diamond necklace that Napoleon I gave his wife, Empress Marie-Louise, and a diadem that once belonged to the Empress Eugenie, which is dotted with nearly 2,000 diamonds. The entire heist was done within seven minutes.

“They removed the customer's labelling and replaced the license plates,” Böcker said.

Böcker, 42, and his wife quickly recognised the furniture house as being one of theirs while watching the news of the audacious heist.

“When it became clear that no one had been injured in the robbery, we took it with a touch of humour” and “started thinking about how we could perhaps use this,” he said.

“It was, of course, an opportunity for us to use the most famous and most visited museum in the world to get a little attention for our company,” he added. “The crime is, of course, absolutely reprehensible, that’s completely clear to us.”