grinder

In the predawn hours of Sept. 16, a single thief used an angle grinder to cut through two doors at the Museum of Natural History in Paris.

The heist employed tools such as angle grinders to carve through an exterior window and display cases in an operation that spanned eight minutes.

The high-pitched sound of an angle grinder sawing through glass echoed through the hall.

Four thieves used a truck-mounted lift to break into an upper gallery of the Louvre, wielding angle grinders to cut through a balcony window as well as the display cases that held the jewels.

French investigators have collected more than 150 samples of DNA, fingerprints and other forensic traces from the scene, including from a helmet, angle grinders, gloves and a vest abandoned by the perpetrators, according to prosecutors.