Two individuals have been apprehended by authorities in connection with the theft of crown jewels from the Louvre museum, as announced by the Paris prosecutor on Sunday. The arrests were carried out by investigators on Saturday evening, with one suspect caught attempting to flee the country. Specifically, one suspect was intercepted at Charles de Gaulle Airport around 10 p.m. as he was preparing to depart France, while the other suspect was apprehended later in the evening in the Seine-Saint-Denis suburb north of Paris.
The theft, which occurred on October 19, involved the robbery of eight valuable jewelry pieces valued at around $143 million Cdn from the Louvre’s collection. The daring heist brought attention to security vulnerabilities at the renowned museum, as the thieves utilized a crane to break into an upstairs window during operating hours before making their escape on motorbikes.
The incident generated global headlines and sparked introspection in France about the perceived national embarrassment. According to reports from Le Parisien, the two suspects, both in their 30s and originally from the Seine-Saint-Denis region, were already familiar to French law enforcement. Additionally, one of the suspects was reportedly on the verge of traveling to Algeria.
