When you need to move fast, use our ladders: German company ‘accomplice’ to Louvre heist turns theft into marketing gold

German family-run business Böcker, based in North Rhine-Westphalia, became an accidental accomplice in the weekend’s highest-profile Louvre Museum heist — after one of its mechanical lifts played a key role in the audacious heist, Euronews writes.

On Sunday, perpetrators parked a truck with a lifting platform at the Louvre, used it to climb onto a terrace, and from there forced their way into the interior of the building and stole crown jewels worth €88 million in the space of seven minutes.

And just one day after the robbery, Böcker decided to react with a post loaded with sharp humour, turning the theft into marketing gold, after learning that nobody was hurt during the heist. The post features its now-infamous furniture ladder stretched up to a balcony outside the Apollo Gallery.

The company’s management superimposed the slogan over a crime scene photo. “When you need to move fast,” the caption reads, “the Böcker Agilo transports your treasures weighing up to 400kg at 42m/min — quiet as a whisper.”

Speaking to AFP, managing director Alexander Böcker said they decided to add “a touch of humour” to the situation. “The crime is, of course, absolutely reprehensible, that’s completely clear to us,” Mr Böcker said.

“It was… an opportunity for us to use the most famous and most visited museum in the world to get a little attention for our company.”