Two suspects have been arrested in connection with the theft of precious crown jewels from the Louvre Museum in Paris, French media reported on Sunday.
The Paris prosecutor’s office confirmed that one of the suspects was detained as he prepared to board a flight at Charles de Gaulle Airport. The arrests were made on Saturday evening, though officials have not specified the total number of people taken into custody.
Jewels worth an estimated €88 million (£76 million; $102 million) were stolen last Sunday, when four masked men wielding power tools broke into the world-renowned museum in broad daylight. France’s justice minister later admitted that security measures had “failed,” leaving the country with a “terrible image.”
According to police sources, one suspect was preparing to travel to Algeria, while the other was believed to be heading to Mali. Investigators can hold and question them for up to 96 hours under French law.
The Paris prosecutor’s office also condemned the “premature disclosure” of details surrounding the case, saying it had complicated efforts to locate the missing jewels and apprehend the remaining thieves.
The gang reportedly struck at around 09:30 (06:30 GMT), shortly after the museum opened to visitors.
They used a vehicle-mounted mechanical lift to reach the Galerie d’Apollon (Gallery of Apollo) via a balcony overlooking the River Seine. Photos taken at the scene showed a ladder propped against a first-floor window.
Two of the thieves cut through the window with power tools before threatening security guards, who were forced to evacuate the premises. The robbers then smashed the glass on two display cases containing the crown jewels.
A preliminary investigation found that one in three rooms in the raided section of the museum had no CCTV coverage. French police said the thieves were inside for just four minutes before escaping on two scooters at 09:38.
Louvre director Laurence des Cars told French senators that the museum’s exterior surveillance was “weak and ageing,” with the only camera near the break-in point facing away from the balcony that led to the Gallery of Apollo.
Experts have since warned that the stolen items may already have been dismantled, with gold and silver melted down and gemstones recut into smaller, untraceable pieces. Dutch art detective Arthur Brand told the BBC that recovery would be “extremely difficult.”
In response to the heist, French authorities have tightened security at cultural institutions nationwide. The Louvre has also moved several of its most valuable jewels to the Bank of France, where they are now stored 26 meters (85 feet) underground in one of the bank’s most secure vaults in central Paris.
