Two suspects have been arrested in connection with the audacious heist at the Louvre museum in Paris, which occurred last Sunday. French media reported that a gang of four men made off with crown jewels estimated to be worth €88m (£76m). The Paris public prosecutor, Laure Beccau, confirmed on Sunday that one man was detained by organised crime squad officers at approximately 10pm on Saturday at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. The prosecutor later stated her regret over the premature leak of information, warning it could impede the efforts of more than 100 investigators mobilized to recover the stolen jewels and apprehend all perpetrators. Under French law, individuals suspected of serious crimes can be held for up to 96 hours before being charged.

Multiple French media outlets detailed that the man apprehended at the airport was preparing to board a plane to Algeria, while another suspect was detained later on Saturday in the greater Paris region. Both individuals were reportedly in their 30s, known to police, and taken into custody on suspicion of “organised theft and criminal conspiracy.” Police sources, cited by France Inter radio, indicated that the pair were from the Paris suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis and had been identified through forensic analysis of various objects left at the crime scene, including a helmet, angle grinders, and a hi-vis vest. French interior minister, Laurent Nuñez, extended his congratulations to the investigators but also urged respect for judicial secrecy laws to ensure the ongoing work of detectives.

The elaborate heist unfolded around 9:30 am last Sunday, shortly after the museum opened to visitors. The four men arrived outside the world's most visited museum in a stolen furniture removal truck equipped with an extending ladder and lift. Two of the gang members, disguised in hi-vis vests to resemble maintenance workers, used the lift to access the ornate first-floor Apollo gallery via a balcony near the River Seine. They then smashed an unsecured window and employed disc cutters or power tools to open two display cases containing the priceless jewels. The operation inside the gallery lasted a mere three minutes and 58 seconds, with the entire heist taking fewer than seven minutes. After securing eight richly gem-encrusted pieces, they descended in the bucket lift and fled on motorbikes driven by their two accomplices. During their escape, they reportedly dropped a diamond- and emerald-studded crown.

Among the stolen items were historically significant pieces, including an emerald and diamond necklace gifted by Napoleon I to his second wife, Marie Louise, and a diadem adorned with 212 pearls and nearly 2,000 diamonds, which once belonged to Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III. The French justice minister has since conceded that security protocols