Two men were arrested on Saturday evening as part of the investigation into the theft of historical jewelry from the Louvre Museum in the French capital on October 19, according to two informed sources confirming information reported by local media.
One suspect was arrested around 10:00 PM at Charles de Gaulle Airport while preparing to board a flight abroad. The second was arrested shortly afterward in Paris.
Both men were detained on charges of organized gang robbery and forming a criminal gang.
They are suspected of being part of a four-member group that stole eight pieces of jewelry from the French Crown collection last Sunday, valued at approximately 88 million euros.
Louvre Museum Jewelry
Around 9:30 AM on October 19, the thieves stopped a truck carrying a forklift near the museum wall located in the heart of the French capital. Two of them used the forklift to climb into the exhibition hall containing the jewelry.
After smashing the hall window and display cases, the criminals fled with the jewelry on two large motorcycles. The entire robbery took between seven to eight minutes.
Approximately one hundred investigators are participating in the investigation, which has been assigned to the anti-crime squad and the Central Office for Combating Trafficking in Cultural Property.
