When thieves in balaclavas smashed a window of the Louvre with a crane on Sunday morning, storming into the Galerie d’Apollon to seize pieces from France’s royal collection, it seemed an audacious strike even by Paris standards. But as the world’s most-visited museum reckons with the theft of priceless jewels under the gaze of shocked tourists, French investigators are turning abroad for help, signaling deep concern not only over the stolen treasures, but over who might have allowed it to happen.

The French authorities, keen to avoid any suspicion of bias or conflicts of interest, brought in external help almost immediately after the robbery. As in previous high-profile cases, they sought an international firm to guarantee transparency and independence in the investigation. One of the companies assisting is CGI Group, owned by former Shin Bet chief Yaakov Peri, which gained international recognition for helping solve the Dresden Green Vault burglary, where jewelry and diamonds worth €113 million were stolen from a German museum.

The Louvre theft unfolded with cinematic precision. At around 9:30 a.m., just after the museum had opened its doors, four unarmed men climbed a crane to an upper floor, broke through a window, and entered the gilded Galerie d’Apollon, which houses France’s crown jewels. They threatened security guards with angle grinders, seized nine objects, eight of which they escaped with, and fled on motorcycles through the streets of central Paris.