Suspects have been arrested in connection with the theft of crown jewels from Paris’ Louvre Museum, the Paris prosecutor announced on Sunday, a week after the heist at the world’s most visited museum shocked the globe.

The prosecutor revealed that investigators made the arrests on Saturday evening. Notably, 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. However, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau did not confirm the exact number of arrests or say whether the stolen jewels had been recovered.

The daring theft took less than eight minutes last Sunday morning, with thieves making off with jewels valued at 88 million euros (approximately $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 then fled the scene.

The museum’s director called the incident a “terrible failure.” Beccuau stated that investigators from a special police unit—responsible for armed robberies, serious burglaries, and art thefts—were behind the arrests. She also regretted the premature leak of information, warning that it could hinder the efforts of more than 100 investigators “mobilized to recover the stolen jewels and apprehend all of the perpetrators.”

Further details will be revealed after the suspects’ custody period ends, Beccuau added.

French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez praised the investigators, saying they “have worked tirelessly, just as I asked them to, and have always had my full confidence.”

The Louvre reopened earlier this week following one of the highest-profile museum thefts of the century, an audacious crime that stunned the world with its scale and boldness. The thieves slipped in and out, making away with parts of France’s Crown Jewels—a cultural wound some have compared to the 2019 burning of Notre Dame Cathedral.

In total, the thieves stole eight objects, including a sapphire diadem, a necklace, and a 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.

Empress Eugénie’s diamond diadem and her large corsage-bow brooch—an imperial ensemble of rare craftsmanship—were also part of the loot.

One piece, Eugénie’s emerald-set imperial crown adorned with more than 1,300 diamonds, was later found outside the museum. Although damaged, it was reported to be recoverable.
https://www.wptv.com/world/suspects-arrested-over-the-theft-of-crown-jewels-from-paris-louvre-museum