Rapid developments in the robbery case as the French authorities have made two arrests.
Two suspects have been arrested in connection with the theft of valuable jewels from the Louvre Museum in Paris, the BBC reports, citing French media.
Two arrested over theft of precious jewels from Louvre museum in Paris, French media say
— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking)
In particular, according to the newspaper Le Parisien and Paris-Match, the men originally come from the Paris suburb of Saint-Saint-Denis, are around 30 years old, and one was preparing to board a flight from Charles de Gaulle airport. According to local reports, the suspected robber was trying to board a flight bound for Algeria.
The second was arrested a short time later in the Paris area, according to Le Parisien.
The two men were taken into custody for gang theft and forming a criminal organization.
It is recalled that the robbery occurred on October 19 when a group of four wheeled into the Apollo room and removed valuables, leaving one of them behind as it fell on them.
The Paris Prosecutor disapproves of the “hasty revelation”.
“I deeply regret the hasty disclosure of this information by informed persons, without regard to the investigation,” Laure Beko said in a statement obtained by Le Figaro.
“This revelation can only harm the investigative efforts of the 100 or so investigators who have been deployed in the search for both the stolen jewels and all the perpetrators,” he noted.
Congratulations from the French Minister of the Interior
In a post published on the social network X, the new Minister of the Interior, Laurent Nounier gave his “warm congratulations to the investigators who worked tirelessly” for the arrest of the two robbers.
The chronicle of the robbery at the Louvre
In a perfectly organized operation in broad daylight, four masked robbers stopped outside the Louvre, next to the Seine. At approximately 9:30 a.m., half an hour after the first visitors had begun entering through the main entrance, the attackers parked on the south side of the building with a truck equipped with a hydraulic lifting basket and a folding ladder, which they used to climb onto a second-floor balcony.
There, according to authorities, they broke a window using a wheel and power tools. They broke the glass cases, grabbed the jewelry, and within minutes alarms were ringing throughout the museum. The robbers quickly escaped on motorcycles.
The entire operation lasted less than ten minutes, according to French Interior Minister Laurent Nunies. “It was the work of an experienced team that had clearly studied the area,” he said.
What did they steal?
The French Ministry of Culture announced that, but not the extremely valuable crown of Empress Eugenie, wife of Napoleon III, which the robbers allegedly abandoned when leaving.
They also did not touch the famous Regent diamond, worth more than $60m (around £45m), which was in the same room.
Among the stolen items are a tiara, a pair of earrings and a sapphire necklace that belonged to Queen Marie-Amelie and Queen Hortense, as well as jewels from Marie-Louise’s collection.
Everything was kept in the Hall of Apollo, built in 1661 during the reign of Louis XIV. The impressive hall, decorated with gold leaf and paintings, was the model for the famous Hall of Mirrors at Versailles.
