French officials have announced the arrest of two suspects in connection with the theft of crown jewels from the Louvre museum. The update comes a week after the heist that stunned the world, inspired endless social media content and sparked a massive manhunt.
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One Suspect Arrested While Trying To Flee Country
On Sunday (October 26), the Paris prosecutor said that investigators made arrests Saturday evening. Prosecutor Laure Beccuau did not confirm the number of arrests and did not say whether any of the Louvre jewels had been recovered. However, French media BFM TV and Le Parisien newspaper earlier reported that police officials detained two suspects. Beccuau also said investigators from a special police unit in charge of armed robberies, serious burglaries and art thefts made the arrests.
Also, a police official—who was not authorized to speak publicly about the case—told The Associated Press that the two men were in their 30s and known to police. He said one suspect was arrested as he attempted to board a plane bound for Algeria from the Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport.
Additionally, cops identified one of the suspects through DNA traces. Prosecutor Beccuau said earlier this week that forensics experts were analyzing 150 samples at the scene.
Prosecutor Calls Out Early Leak Of Arrests
In her statement, Prosecutor Laure Beccuau rued the premature leak of information. She said it could hinder the work of over 100 investigators “mobilized to recover the stolen jewels and apprehend all of the perpetrators.”
“I deeply regret the hasty disclosure of this information by informed individuals, without consideration of the investigation,” Beccuau said on Sunday night, per ABC News.
Beccuau said officials will reveal further details after the suspects’ custody period ends. As of Saturday evening, police had up to 96 hours to hold the alleged suspects in their custody before needing to release or charge them. It’s unclear whether these suspects were still in custody on Tuesday.
French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez praised “the investigators who have worked tirelessly, just as I asked them to, and who have always had my full confidence.”
Recap Of What Thieves Stole During Louvre Heist
Thieves took less than eight minutes on October 19 to steal jewels from the world’s most-visited museum. The stolen goods are valued at 88 million euros ($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 fled. The museum’s director called the incident a “terrible failure.”
The thieves escaped with a total of eight objects. The list includes a sapphire diadem, necklace and single earring from a set linked to 19th-century queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense. They also took an emerald necklace and earrings tied to Empress Marie-Louise, Napoleon Bonaparte’s second wife, and a reliquary brooch. Empress Eugénie’s diamond diadem and her large corsage-bow brooch were also part of the loot. Officials later found one piece, the Eugénie’s emerald-set imperial crown with more than 1,300 diamonds. It was outside the museum, damaged but repairable.
The Louvre reopened last week after one of the highest-profile museum thefts of the century. Meanwhile, the world is still gagged by the audacity and scale of the heist that’s now even inspired Halloween costumes.
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Associated Press reporters Samuel Petrequin and Nicolas Garriga contributed to this report via AP Newsroom.
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