Two suspects were arrested Saturday night (October 25) in connection with the audacious $100 million crown jewels heist at Paris’ Louvre Museum, with one nabbed while attempting to board a flight to Algeria.
The men, both in their 30s from Seine-Saint-Denis, a rough suburb north of Paris, were detained as part of an investigation into “organized gang robbery” and “conspiracy to commit a crime.” Police received a tip Saturday about one suspect planning to flee the country and arrested him at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport as he prepared to board a plane bound for Algeria.
The second suspect was arrested shortly afterward in Paris. Two other suspects remain at large.
The arrests come exactly one week after the Hollywood-style heist that shocked the art world. On October 19, four thieves dressed in yellow vests and motorcycle helmets executed the brazen daylight robbery in less than four minutes. Using a cherry picker, they scaled the museum’s Apollo Gallery and broke into glass displays with chain saws as horrified tourists watched.
The crew made off with eight pieces from France’s Crown Jewels collection, including a sapphire diadem, necklace and single earring linked to 19th-century Queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense. They also stole Empress Eugénie’s diamond diadem and her large corsage-bow brooch.
One piece of stolen jewelry—Eugénie’s emerald-set imperial crown containing more than 1,300 diamonds—was later found outside the museum, damaged but recoverable.
The thieves descended using the same cherry picker before attempting to burn the bucket truck during their escape, fleeing on two scooters parked nearby.
According to Le Parisien, the alleged thieves are known to police for past robberies and are believed to have conducted the high-profile heist on commission. Officials collected nearly 150 traces of DNA, fingerprints and hair samples from the scene.
Hair believed to belong to the first thief was found in a motorcycle helmet discarded near the scene. The two arrested men are being held at police headquarters, where they can be detained for up to 96 hours without charges being filed.
Police have not yet recovered the stolen jewelry or publicly identified the other two suspects or the mastermind behind the operation.
Since the heist, security has increased around France’s cultural institutions. Museum officials moved the remaining French Crown Jewels to an ultra-secure Bank of France vault.
A preliminary report by France’s Court of Auditors found the world’s most visited museum had inadequate video surveillance systems and security spending was much lower in 2024 than two decades earlier.
France’s Minister of the Interior Laurent Nuñez celebrated the arrests Sunday morning (October 26) on Twitter, writing: “I extend my warmest congratulations to the investigators who have worked tirelessly as I requested and who have always had my full confidence.”
However, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau criticized media leaks about the arrests, stating: “This revelation can only hinder the investigative efforts of the 100 or so mobilized investigators, both in the search for the stolen jewelry and for all the perpetrators.”
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