Two Arrested over Crown Jewels Heist at Louvre
October 27, 25
(IDEX Online) - French police have arrested two suspects over $100m heist at the Louvre, in which eight items of the crown jewels were stolen.
One man was detained late on Saturday (25 October) as he was about to board a flight to Algeria, according to Le Parisien, and the second was arrested in Paris.
Both men are reportedly in their 30s and from the Seine-Saint-Denis neighborhood north of Paris. Neither has been named.
Under French law they can be held for up to 48 hours. Two other suspects remain at large. Police gave no indication that any of the stolen items had so far been recovered.
Gang members used a mobile furniture lift to reach a first-floor balcony and break into the museum's Apollo Gallery at around 9.30am local time last Sunday morning (19 October).
They escaped on motorbikes but left behind a helmet which provided a crucial hair sample that is believed to have linked to one of the suspects, together with multiple DNA samples.
The Louvre, the most-visited museum in the world, has since moved the remaining crown jewels to a vault at the Bank of France.
Pic, courtesy the Louvre, shows Apollo Gallery.