Two suspects have been arrested in the theft of crown jewels from the Louvre museum, one of whom was poised to flee the country, Paris authorities said Sunday.
Both men are in their 30s, hail from an economically depressed Parisian suburb and were already known to police, Reuters reported, citing the newspaper Le Parisien. One of the suspects arrested was identified via DNA found at the scene from a glove and helmet the thieves left behind, local media reported.
Paris prosectuor Laure Beccuau declined to confirm the exact number of suspects nabbed or whether any stolen treasures have been recovered.
The suspects were picked up Saturday night by members of a special police unit that investigates armed robberies, serious burglaries and art thefts, she said in a statement.
One of the suspects was nabbed at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. Reuters reported he had been about to board a flight to Algeria.
The other supsect planned to head to Mali, BBC News reported, both citing local media. At least two other suspects are still being sought, according to CNN.
French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez praised “the investigators who have worked tirelessly, just as I asked them to, and who have always had my full confidence.”
At the same time, Beccuau expressed frustration at the information leak.
“This revelation can only hinder the investigative efforts of the 100 or so mobilized investigators, both in the search for the stolen jewelry and for all the perpetrators,” she said, according to Reuters. “It is too early to provide any specific details.”
On Oct. 19, crooks climbed to the famed museum’s upper floor via a basket-ladder lift, cut through a window of the Apollo Gallery with power tools, smashed display cases and sped away on motorbikes carrying eight cultural touchstones valued at $102 million.
The thieves absconded with a tiara and earrings from the early 19th-century collection of Queen Marie-Amélie and Queen Hortense, plus an emerald necklace and earrings linked to Napoleon Bonaparte’s second wife, Empress Marie-Louise, and a reliquary brooch. The gold crown of Empress Eugénie, Napoleon III’s wife, set with emeralds and 1,300 diamonds, was found in the roadway outside the museum.
The brazen midmorning heist took just a few minutes and stunned the world.
With News Wire Services
