Two suspects have been arrested in connection with the audacious theft of priceless crown jewels from Paris’s Louvre Museum, according to French media reports.
The Paris prosecutor’s office confirmed that one of the men was apprehended at Charles de Gaulle Airport, allegedly preparing to board a flight out of the country.
The robbery, which took place in broad daylight last Sunday, saw four masked thieves armed with power tools break into the world’s most-visited museum and escape with jewels valued at an estimated €88 million ($102 million).
France’s justice minister has acknowledged that security protocols “failed,” leaving what she called a “terrible image” for the country’s cultural institutions.
The Paris prosecutor’s office announced on Saturday evening that arrests had been made in connection with the recent Louvre jewel heist, though it declined to specify the number of individuals taken into custody.
According to police sources cited by French media, one suspect was preparing to travel to Algeria, while the other was reportedly planning a trip to Mali. Specialist investigators are authorized to detain and question them for up to 96 hours.
French outlets reported on Sunday that DNA evidence recovered at the scene led to the identification of one suspect. The thieves left behind several items, including gloves and a high-visibility jacket.
Previous reports also suggest that the gang dropped a crown once belonging to Empress Eugénie, the wife of Napoleon III, during their escape.
The Paris prosecutor criticized what they described as the “premature disclosure” of details related to the case, warning that such leaks could hinder efforts to recover the stolen jewels and apprehend the remaining perpetrators.
The robbery, carried out shortly after the Louvre opened at 9:30 a.m. local time, involved the use of a vehicle-mounted mechanical lift to access the museum’s iconic Galerie d’Apollon via a balcony overlooking the River Seine. Photographs from the scene show a ladder leading up to a first-floor window—an image now symbolic of the museum’s most daring security breach in decades.