Two Arrested in Paris After Daring Heist at the Louvre
Two men known to police detained in connection with the theft of eight crown-jewellery pieces from the Musée du Louvre, valued at over one hundred million dollars
Paris authorities have taken two suspects into custody in the investigation of the audacious jewellery theft at the Musée du Louvre.
One man, in his thirties and known to police for previous break-ins, was apprehended at the Charles de Gaulle Airport on Saturday evening as he attempted to board a flight bound for Algeria.
The second suspect, also in his thirties and from the Seine-Saint-Denis district of the Paris region, was arrested later that evening in the suburbs of the French capital.
The investigation centres on the October 19 daylight raid in which a gang of four masked men broke into the museum’s Galerie d’Apollon during regular opening hours and made off with eight items from the French Crown Jewels collection, with a value estimated at approximately €88 million (around US $102 million).
The interior ministry said the burglary lasted less than eight minutes, and that the intruders spent fewer than four minutes inside the museum.
According to the Paris prosecutors’ office, around one hundred investigators have been mobilised to pursue the case, which has been opened under charges of aggravated theft by an organised gang and conspiracy.
The arrested men are being interrogated and may be held for up to 96 hours under French law.
The thieves employed a vehicle-mounted lift to reach a first-floor balcony window on the Seine-facing wing of the museum, cut through it with power tools, smashed the display cases and escaped on motorised scooters.
During the flight one of the crown jewels was dropped and recovered damaged outside the museum.
In the aftermath the museum’s director publicly acknowledged a “terrible failure” in security systems, pointing to areas not covered by surveillance cameras, although the culture minister has maintained that the alarm system operated correctly.
Labour unions at the museum have highlighted longstanding concerns about reduced security staffing and delayed upgrades.
President Emmanuel Macron ordered a full administrative review and emphasised the national significance of the items stolen.
He affirmed that every effort is being made to recover the artefacts and bring the perpetrators to justice.
With two suspects now in custody, attention turns to tracing the full gang, locating the remaining jewels and understanding how the breach was carried out so swiftly in one of the world’s most-visited museums.
One man, in his thirties and known to police for previous break-ins, was apprehended at the Charles de Gaulle Airport on Saturday evening as he attempted to board a flight bound for Algeria.
The second suspect, also in his thirties and from the Seine-Saint-Denis district of the Paris region, was arrested later that evening in the suburbs of the French capital.
The investigation centres on the October 19 daylight raid in which a gang of four masked men broke into the museum’s Galerie d’Apollon during regular opening hours and made off with eight items from the French Crown Jewels collection, with a value estimated at approximately €88 million (around US $102 million).
The interior ministry said the burglary lasted less than eight minutes, and that the intruders spent fewer than four minutes inside the museum.
According to the Paris prosecutors’ office, around one hundred investigators have been mobilised to pursue the case, which has been opened under charges of aggravated theft by an organised gang and conspiracy.
The arrested men are being interrogated and may be held for up to 96 hours under French law.
The thieves employed a vehicle-mounted lift to reach a first-floor balcony window on the Seine-facing wing of the museum, cut through it with power tools, smashed the display cases and escaped on motorised scooters.
During the flight one of the crown jewels was dropped and recovered damaged outside the museum.
In the aftermath the museum’s director publicly acknowledged a “terrible failure” in security systems, pointing to areas not covered by surveillance cameras, although the culture minister has maintained that the alarm system operated correctly.
Labour unions at the museum have highlighted longstanding concerns about reduced security staffing and delayed upgrades.
President Emmanuel Macron ordered a full administrative review and emphasised the national significance of the items stolen.
He affirmed that every effort is being made to recover the artefacts and bring the perpetrators to justice.
With two suspects now in custody, attention turns to tracing the full gang, locating the remaining jewels and understanding how the breach was carried out so swiftly in one of the world’s most-visited museums.
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