French police arrested two suspects in connection with a jewel theft at the Louvre on Saturday night.
Police caught one of the suspects as they attempted to leave the country and captured another one in Paris afterward. Two other suspects are still at large.
A group of professional thieves made off with eight Napoleonic jewels as the museum closed for the day last Sunday. The French Interior Ministry said the jewels had “priceless heritage and historical value” and included jewelry belonging to the wives of former French leader Napoleon Bonaparte.
Both of the men captured on Sunday were in their 30s and were from Seine-Saint-Denis in Paris. Police detained them for “organized gang robbery” and “conspiracy to commit a crime” as they continue to investigate.
Police received a tip Saturday on one of the suspects flying out of Paris Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle Airport to Algeria in North Africa, French outlet BFMTV reported. The other suspect was captured not long after.
It’s unclear where the other two thieves are or where the crown jewels are located.
French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez celebrated the arrest of the two men in a post on X.
“#Louvre Affair: I extend my warmest congratulations to the investigators who have worked tirelessly as I requested and who have always had my full confidence,” he wrote. “The investigations must continue while respecting the confidentiality of the inquiry under the authority of the specialized interregional jurisdiction of @parquetdeParis. It will be with the same determination !! We keep going !!”
The alleged thieves are known by French police for other robberies and are believed to have been commissioned to carry out the heist, Le Parisien reported. There’s concern that the Jewels may have already been broken up and sold in parts, mostly because the pieces are too recognizable to be sold.
“Nobody wants to touch a piece so hot,” Dutch art detective Arthur Brand told the BBC. “You cannot show it to your friends, you cannot leave it to your children, you cannot sell it.”
While cutting up the pieces will reduce their value, the stones and parts are still expected to be worth millions.
French President Emmanuel Macron suggested the biggest blow from the robbery will be to France’s heritage. “The theft committed at the Louvre is an attack on a heritage that we cherish because it is our History,” he said after the robbery.
THIEVES STEAL JEWELS OF ‘INESTIMABLE VALUE’ IN FOUR-MINUTE HEIST AT LOUVRE
The four thieves broke into the Louvre wearing yellow vests and motorcycle helmets, using a truck-mounted ladder to gain access to the museum’s Apollo gallery through a window. The thieves then grabbed the jewels, dropping Empress Eugenie’s emerald crown as they escaped on scooters.
A soon-to-be-published report says the security spending around the Louvre dropped significantly within the last two decades, and there was inadequate security surveillance where the jewels were stolen, Spanish outlet El Pais reported.
