Two have been arrested over theft of precious jewels from Louvre museum in Paris, French media says.
Priceless crown jewels were taken from the world’s most famous museum last weekend, when four thieves wielding power tools broke into the building in broad daylight. The heist is reported to have occurred at 9.30am local time and lasted several minutes.
Two suspects, from the Parisian borough of Seine-Saint Denis, were arrested on Saturday evening and placed in police custody as part of the investigations opened for “theft in an organised gang” and “association of criminals for the commission of a crime”, led by the Paris Banditry Repression Brigade (BRB) and the Central Office for the Fight against Trafficking in Cultural Goods (OCBC), according to Le Parisien.
One of the suspects was arrested at Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle airport, as he was about to board a plane to Algeria, a source close to the investigation told BFMTV.
A group of four thieves entered the Galerie d’Apollon, which holds the remains of the French crown jewels, and made away with nine pieces of jewellery, using a scooter to escape.
Interior minister Laurent Nunez described the incident as a “major robbery” involving “jewels that have genuine heritage value and are, in fact, priceless”.
The French culture ministry confirmed the stolen items included a tiara, necklace and a single earring from a set that belonged to Queen Marie-Amelie and Queen Hortense, an emerald necklace and a pair of emerald earrings from the Empress Marie Louise set, a brooch known as the “reliquary brooch”, a tiara belonging to Empress Eugenie, and a large corsage bow brooch of Empress Eugenie.
According to the museum’s website, the tiara from the set belonging to Queen Marie-Amelie and Queen Hortense is “composed of five articulated elements, each topped with a large sapphire. In total [there are] 24 sapphires, 10 of which [are] very small, and 1,083 diamonds”.
The Queen Marie-Amelie and Queen Hortense sapphire set belonged to King Louis-Philippe’s wife, while the Empress Marie Louise emerald set was a gift to Napoleon’s second wife.
The Empress Eugenie tiara, large corsage brooch, and “reliquary brooch” were part of Napoleon III’s wife’s collection, made in the 1850s. The Eugenie brooch alone contains 2,438 diamonds.
Culture minister Rachida Dati said the robbery lasted less than four minutes. She said the footage of the operation revealed that the thieves “don’t target people, they enter calmly in four minutes, smash display cases, take their loot, and leave”.
“No violence, very professional,” she was quoted as saying by TF1.
The Louvre, which draws tens of thousands of visitors daily, was closed for the day for “exceptional reasons”.
