French authorities have detained two men suspected of being part of a four-man crew that stole rare jewels from the world-famous Louvre museum last week, AFP reported, citing two sources close to the case.
One of the suspects was detained at around 22:00 (2000 GMT) Saturday at Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport as he was about to board an overseas flight, French media outlets Le Parisien and Paris Match reported. A second person was arrested not long after in the Paris area, according to Le Parisien.
Dozens of investigators were tasked with tracking down thieves who successfully robbed the Louvre in broad daylight on October 19, making off with an estimated $102 million worth of royal jewels in just seven minutes.
The robbers climbed the stolen moving vans up an extension ladder and used cutting equipment to gain access to the first floor gallery. Escaping up the ladder and on scooters, they dropped the diamond- and emerald-studded crown, but still managed to steal eight other pieces, including the emerald-diamond necklace that Napoleon Bonaparte gave to his wife, Empress Marie-Louise.
The brazen theft made headlines around the world and sparked a debate in France about the security of its cultural institutions.
Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau confirmed on Sunday that one of the suspects in the heist of some of France’s crown jewels was arrested at Charles de Gaulle airport north of Paris as he prepared to leave the country on Saturday night, Reuters reported.
The Louvre will move the crown jewels to the Bank of France
The Louvre has transferred some of its most valuable jewels to the Bank of France, according to French radio station RTL, following a daring heist last week that exposed the famous museum’s vulnerability to security breaches.
The transfer of several valuable objects from the Apollo museum gallery, which houses France’s crown jewels, was carried out on Friday under the escort of the secret police, RTL reported, citing unnamed sources.
The Bank of France, which holds the country’s gold reserves in a substantial vault 27 meters (88 ft) underground, is located just 500 meters from the Louvre on the right bank of the Seine.
The heist clearly exposed security flaws when thieves managed to break into the world’s most visited museum using a crane and smash an upstairs window during opening hours. News of the robbery reverberated around the world and sparked a period of national soul-searching in France after what some saw as a humiliation.
