Suspects have been arrested in connection with the theft of crown jewels from Paris’ Louvre Museum, the Paris prosecutor said Sunday, a week after the heist at the world’s most visited museum that stunned the world.
The prosecutor revealed that investigators made the arrests on Saturday evening, adding that one of the men taken into custody was preparing to leave the country from Roissy Airport. Earlier, French media outlets BFM TV and Le Parisien newspaper reported that two suspects had been arrested and taken into custody.
Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau did not confirm the exact number of arrests nor did she disclose whether the stolen jewels had been recovered.
The thieves carried out the robbery in less than eight minutes last Sunday morning, making off with jewels valued at roughly $102 million. French officials described how the intruders used a basket lift to scale the Louvre’s façade, forced open a window, smashed display cases, and fled the scene.
The museum’s director called the incident a “terrible failure.”
Ms. Beccuau said that investigators from a special police unit—tasked with armed robberies, serious burglaries, and art thefts—were responsible for making the arrests. She also expressed regret over a premature leak of information, warning that it could hinder the work of over 100 investigators “mobilized to recover the stolen jewels and apprehend all of the perpetrators.”
Further details will be unveiled after the suspects’ custody period ends, Ms. Beccuau added.
France’s Interior Minister, Laurent Nunez, praised “the investigators who have worked tirelessly, just as I asked them to, and who have always had my full confidence.”
The thieves made away with a total of eight objects, including a sapphire diadem, necklace, and single earring from a set linked to 19th-century queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense. They also took an emerald necklace and earrings associated with Empress Marie-Louise, Napoleon Bonaparte’s second wife, as well as a reliquary brooch.
Additionally, Empress Eugénie’s diamond diadem and her large corsage-bow brooch—an imperial ensemble of rare craftsmanship—were part of the loot.
One piece, Eugénie’s emerald-set imperial crown with more than 1,300 diamonds, was later found outside the museum. Although damaged, it was recoverable.
https://www.nysun.com/article/paris-police-arrest-two-men-in-connection-with-jewel-heist-from-louvre-museum