French authorities announced on Sunday that two individuals have been apprehended in connection with the theft of crown jewels from the Louvre museum. According to the Paris prosecutor, the arrests were made on Saturday evening, with one of the suspects intercepted as he was preparing to board a flight out of the country.
The first suspect, who was on the verge of leaving France, was detained at Charles de Gaulle Airport around 10 p.m. on Saturday. Subsequently, another suspect was captured later in the evening in the Seine-Saint-Denis suburb situated north of Paris. At the time of reporting, Paris police had not provided any official statements regarding the arrests.
The robbery occurred on October 19, when thieves raided the renowned museum, making off with eight valuable pieces of jewelry valued at approximately $143 million Cdn from the Louvre’s collection. The audacious heist exposed significant security vulnerabilities, as the perpetrators used a crane to break into an upstairs window during regular opening hours before fleeing the scene on motorcycles.
The incident garnered global attention, triggering introspection within France about what some perceived as a national embarrassment. As per Le Parisien newspaper, the two suspects, both in their thirties and hailing from the Seine-Saint-Denis region, were already known to the French authorities. Additionally, reports indicated that one of the suspects was planning to travel to Algeria.