French police have made arrests in connection with the heist of France’s crown jewels from the Louvre Museum in Paris, officials said Sunday.
One of the men was arrested on Saturday evening while “preparing to leave the country” from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris Prosecutor Laure Beccuau said in a statement.
She said that investigators are still working “to recover the stolen jewels and to locate all of the perpetrators,” adding: “It is too early to provide any further detail. I will release additional information at the end of this period of police custody.”
AFP reports that two men were taken into custody on suspicion of organized theft and criminal conspiracy.
French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez congratulated investigators on Sunday.
“With the same determination !! Let’s keep on !!,” he posted on X.
A huge police operation has been underway to locate the four thieves who were captured on camera making off with eight pieces from the museum in a daylight robbery early last Sunday.
The robbers arrived with a furniture-lift truck, sliced through a window of the Galerie d’Apollon, threatened guards and smashed through two display cases, speeding off on scooters before police could respond.
The stolen crown jewels have an estimated value of 88 million euros ($102 million), not counting their emotional and historical value to the French people.
Beccuau, whose office is leading the probe, condemned leaks appearing in French media, saying that “hasty disclosure of this information by individuals who had knowledge of it, without any consideration for the investigation” could hinder progress.
Investigators have previously raised fears that the thieves would be likely to melt down and break up the artefacts to sell them off.
“The wrongdoers who took these gems won’t earn 88 million euros if they had the very bad idea of disassembling these jewels,” Beccuau said in an interview with broadcaster RTL. “We can perhaps hope that they’ll think about this and won’t destroy these jewels without rhyme or reason.”
The Louvre theft has struck at the heart of France’s national pride, wounding a country that sees its cultural heritage as a matter of identity and raising uncomfortable questions about how the world’s most visited museum was breached so easily.
The thieves parked a monte-meubles — a truck mounted with a basket lift — and used it to access a second-floor balcony, seemingly without drawing the attention of police or security. The incident is being seen in some quarters as a national humiliation.
Macron called it “an attack on a heritage that we cherish because it is our history.” He vowed to “recover the works and the perpetrators will be brought to justice,” adding that “everything is being done, everywhere, to achieve this.”
