Days after thieves took just minutes to steal eight pieces of the French crown jewels from the Louvre, a former bank robber says he warned a museum official of glaring weaknesses — including jewel cases by streetside windows that were “a piece of cake” to attack.

David Desclos talks like what he was: a pro who knew how to make alarms go quiet.

In an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday just outside I.M. Pei’s glass pyramid, the reformed burglar said he flagged the gallery’s windows and nearby display cases years ago, after the Louvre invited him to the Apollo Gallery to weigh in for its 2020 in-house podcast about a historic 1792 theft.

“Have you seen those windows? They’re a piece of cake,” he said, recounting that he told a senior official involved in the Louvre’s podcast production — not the museum director — about the risk.

Then came Sunday’s heist.

Authorities say two thieves in high-visibility jackets smashed through a window of the Apollo Gallery and used power tools to cut open cases.

Eight crown-jewel items — valued in some reports at more than $100 million — disappeared in minutes.

A ninth piece, Empress Eugénie’s diamond-studded crown, was found on the ground outside the museum, damaged but salvageable.

Two suspects have been arrested; others remain at large.

“Exactly what I had predicted,” Desclos said. “They came by the windows … they came, they took, and they left.”

Timing, he argues, was part of the trick.

A smash-and-grab is choreography, he says: rehearsal, a stopwatch, muscle memory.

High on his list of weak points is a 2019 overhaul of the Apollo Gallery display cases.

Desclos — who has slicked back hair and a larger-than-life personality — says older display cases were designed so that, in an attack, treasures could drop to safety; newer ones without that feature left the artifacts vulnerable.

The Louvre has pushed back on such criticism, saying the newer vitrines are more secure and meet modern standards.

Desclos says he raised those concerns with the Louvre official after the podcast recording and avoided spelling out vulnerabilities on air.

The Louvre did not immediately respond to AP’s request for comment.

AP has listened to the podcast and verified Desclos’ presence on it but cannot immediately verify his account of warning a museum official.

AP video shot by Nicolas Garriga