LONDON — French authorities arrested two males in relation to final week’s major jewel heist at Paris’ Louvre Museum, the French Nationwide Police confirmed to ABC Information, amid a nationwide manhunt for the perpetrators.
One suspect was arrested at 10 p.m. on Saturday at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport whereas making an attempt to board a airplane certain for Algeria, police mentioned.
Police didn’t provide any info on the timing or circumstances of the second suspect’s arrest.
Police stand guard exterior the Louvre museum at Louvre, October 19, 2025, in Paris, France.
Remon Haazen/Getty Photos
Each males are suspected to have been a part of the workforce alleged to have robbed the Louvre final week. They’re each from Seine Saint Denis, a northeastern suburb of Paris, police mentioned.
Authorities launched a nationwide manhunt for the Louvre suspects after the theft from the museum’s Apollo Gallery on the morning of Oct. 19, simply earlier than the museum was set to open to the general public.
The stolen objects included crowns, necklaces, earrings and brooches, a few of which as soon as belonged to Emperor Napoleon and his spouse.
Paris public prosecutor Laure Beccuau estimated that the stolen items had been estimated to be price some $102 million.
The workforce of thieves drove as much as the aspect of the museum in what police described as a “cell freight elevator” outfitted with a steel ladder on the again that was prolonged as much as a window, in response to the Paris police.
“They deployed the freight elevator, securing the environment with development cones, earlier than accessing the second flooring, within the Apollo Gallery, by breaking the window with an angle grinder,” in response to the police assertion.
“Inside, they then smashed two show instances, ‘Napoleon jewels’ and ‘French crown jewels,’ utilizing the angle grinder and stole quite a few items of high-value jewellery,” police mentioned.
An infographic of the heist on the Louvre Museum.
Anadolu through Getty Photos
French President Emmanuel Macron vowed that authorities would catch these answerable for what he described as an “assault on a heritage that we cherish as a result of it’s our historical past.”
French Tradition Minister Rachida Dati, who’s overseeing the investigation alongside the Justice Ministry, described the heist to ABC Information as “a easy, however spectacular operation.”
Quickly after the theft, investigators mentioned 4 suspects left the scene on two motorbikes, winding their manner by central Paris and final noticed rushing southeast on Freeway A6 out of Paris and within the route of Lyon.
ABC Information’ Aicha Elhammar and Somayeh Malekian contributed to this report.
