Louvre Museum jewellery heist: Two suspects arrested

Two suspects have been arrested over the audacious theft of precious royal jewels from the Louvre Museum in Paris on October 19, French media have said.

The office of the prosecutor in Paris, who though did not confirm the number of arrests, said one of the men caught was taken into custody as he was reportedly planning to fly out of the country from Charles de Gaulle Airport. According to the prosecutor, the arrests were made on Saturday (October 25) evening.

Also read: How the Louvre’s heist exposes the cracks in the world’s most secure museum

French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez praised “the investigators who have worked tirelessly”, just as he asked them to, and who have always had his “full confidence”.

USD 102-million heist

Items worth USD 102 million were taken from the world’s most visited museum when four men with power tools broke into the building using a crane in broad daylight to carry out a heist that would only be matched by an onscreen plot. They then fled on motorcycles, triggering a massive manhunt across the country.

French government officials conceded that the incident exposed the failure of the security protocols and gave the country a “terrible image”. President Emmanuel Macron vowed to bring the culprits to justice, but experts doubted whether the priceless items could ever be recovered in their original form.

Earlier this week, a new video surfaced, showing two robbers fleeing with the crown jewels. Wearing construction gear, they used a hydraulic lift to escape after the heist. Another old video showed one of the robbers making a way through a glass display case even as visitors walked past them. The entire operation lasted less than eight minutes.

Eight valuable pieces taken

The eight valuable pieces that were stolen spanned two centuries and belonged to France’s queens and empresses.

These included a sapphire diadem, necklace and single earring from a set linked to 19th-century queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense. They also removed an emerald necklace and earrings related to Empress Marie-Louise, Napoleon Bonaparte's second wife, and a reliquary brooch. Empress Eugenie's diamond diadem and her large corsage-bow brooch were also part of the loot.

Also read: Louvre heist: French minister says robbers were experienced, well-prepared

Eugenie's emerald-set imperial crown with more than 1,300 diamonds was later found outside the museum — damaged but recoverable.

The authorities handed over the probe to a specialised police unit in the French capital, called BRB, which is known for dealing with high-profile cases of robberies.

(With agency inputs)