French authorities say two suspects have been arrested in connection with the October 19 theft of France’s crown jewels from the Louvre.
Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said in a statement on Sunday that authorities made the arrest on Saturday night. A man was reportedly detained at Charles de Gaulle Airport as he prepared to board a flight to Algeria. According to French newspapers, the arrest took place around 10 p.m. local time parisianfirst reported the news.
Authorities described both suspects as being in their 30s and from the Seine-Saint-Denis area of Paris. Investigators said Friday they were following a newly revealed video that allegedly shows two thieves, one wearing a yellow vest and the other in all black, escaping the Louvre on a furniture lift carrying $102 worth of Napoleon jewelry.
Nine artifacts were stolen from the Louvre’s Apollo Gallery, but in their haste, the thieves dropped one artifact, a crown. Authorities have not yet recovered the remainder of the stolen property. President Emmanuel Macron’s government revealed last week that the eight pieces of stolen jewelery were not covered by private insurance. The French Culture Ministry said France would not receive any compensation for losses related to the stolen items if police did not recover them.
The 36-second video captured the pair jumping from a window in the museum’s Apollo Gallery before fleeing the area on a motorcycle. The robbery took place in broad daylight during museum opening hours and took less than seven minutes.
The robbery plunged the Louvre and Macron’s government into a public crisis. The Louvre’s security system has come under scrutiny due to a lack of camera footage or witnesses in the galleries, although museum director Laurence de Cass said the sirens were operating normally when the robbery occurred. Speaking to the French Senate, Descal called the theft a “serious failure” of the Paris museum’s security system, adding that staff “did not detect the thieves’ arrival in time”. She said she submitted her resignation to Culture Minister Rachida Dati, but Dati did not accept the offer.
Louvre staff have previously accused museum leadership of delaying security upgrades due to staff shortages, and after the robbery a leaked audit of the museum described security measures as “outdated.”
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