Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau did not confirm the number of arrests and did not say whether any jewels had been recovered
Any news of arrests in a heist as massive as the $102-million jewellery theft at the Louvre museum in Paris would make the authorities happy; wouldn’t it? Well, that’s just conventional wisdom. The Paris prosecutor is, apparently, angry — not because some suspects have been arrested; but because revealing details in such a sensitive case can be tricky.
Here are the details so far:
- Some suspects have been arrested for the theft of crown jewels from Paris’ Louvre museum, the Paris prosecutor said on Sunday. This came a week after the heist, which took 7-8 minutes, stunned the world.
- One of the men taken into custody was preparing to leave the country from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, the prosecutor said, not specifying total numbers.
- French media outlets such as BFM TV and Le Parisien newspaper reported that two suspects are in custody after investigators made the arrests on Saturday evening.
- Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau did not confirm the number of arrests and did not say whether any jewels had been recovered.
- French interior minister Laurent Nunez praised the investigators, saying they have “worked tirelessly, just as I asked them to”.
A daring heist at a world-famous museum
The thieves took less than eight minutes last Sunday morning to steal jewels valued at 88 million euros ($102 million) from the world’s most-visited museum.
The intruders used a basket lift to scale the facade, opened a window, smashed display cases, and fled with the jewellery. The museum’s director called the incident a “terrible failure.”
Why Paris prosecutor is unhappy
Investigators from a special police unit in charge of armed robberies, serious burglaries and art thefts made the arrests, Laure Beccuau said.
In a statement, she rued what she saw as premature leak of information, saying it could hinder the work of over 100 investigators “mobilized to recover the stolen jewels and apprehend all of the perpetrators”.
Beccuau said further details will be unveiled after the suspects’ custody period ends, reported news agency AP.
News of the arrests was met with relief by Louvre visitors and passersby, though. “It’s important for our heritage. A week later, it does feel a bit late, we wonder how this could even happen — but it was important that the guys were caught,” said one of them identified as Freddy Jacquemet.
“I think the main thing now is whether they can recover the jewels,” added Diana Ramirez. “That’s what really matters.”
What’s stolen, and how
The Louvre reopened earlier this week after one of the highest-profile museum thefts of the century.
The thieves made off with some of France’s crown jewels — a “cultural wound” some compared to the burning of the Notre Dame Cathedral in 2019.
In all, thieves took eight objects:
- These include a sapphire diadem, necklace and single earring from a set linked to 19th-century queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense.
- The thieves also took an emerald necklace and earrings tied to Empress Marie-Louise, Napoleon Bonaparte’s second wife, as well as a reliquary brooch.
- Empress Eugénie’s diamond diadem and her large corsage-bow brooch were also part of the loot.
One piece — Eugénie’s emerald-set imperial crown with more than 1,300 diamonds — was later found outside the museum, damaged but repairable.
