As a manhunt continued on Monday for suspects within the Louvre Museum jewel heist, the Paris Prosecutor mentioned she fears the investigation may be harmed by the “hasty disclosure” over the weekend of the arrests of two different theft suspects.
Paris Prosecutor Laure Beccuau mentioned the data made public concerning the arrests within the Louvre case mustn’t have been disclosed.
“I deeply remorse the hasty disclosure of this info by knowledgeable people, with out consideration of the investigation,” Beccuau mentioned in an announcement her workplace launched Sunday night time.
Riot cops patrol as individuals queue to enter Le Louvre museum Monday, Oct. 27, 2025 in Paris.
Christophe Ena/AP
Beccuau added, “This revelation can solely hurt the investigative efforts of 100 or so investigators” looking for the stolen jewellery and the perpetrators nonetheless at massive.
Beneath French legislation, the suspects in custody will be held for 96 hours earlier than prosecutors need to cost or launch them.
An infographic of the heist on the Louvre Museum.
Anadolu by way of Getty Photographs
“It’s too early to offer any additional particulars,” Beccuau mentioned. “I’ll present extra info on the finish of this custody part.”
Two males, each of their 30s, from a Paris suburb have been arrested over the weekend, accused of being a part of the crew that pulled off the brazen jewel heist, French Nationwide Police confirmed to ABC Information.
One suspect was arrested at 10 p.m. on Saturday at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport whereas attempting to board a aircraft sure for Algeria, police mentioned.
The second suspect was nabbed by police as he was about to journey to Mali, in West Africa, an investigator with the Paris Brigade for the Repression of Banditry (BRB), the particular police unit spearheading the probe, and a supply with the French Inside Ministry immediately linked to the investigation advised ABC Information.
Each suspects, whose names haven’t been publicly launched, are French nationals who reside in Seine-Saint-Denis, a suburb of Paris, in line with investigators.
One of many suspects has twin citizenship in France and Mali, and the opposite is a twin citizen of France and Algeria, investigators mentioned, including that each have been already identified to police from previous housebreaking instances.
Investigators mentioned they matched hint DNA evidence recovered from a helmet left on the scene of the crime to one of many suspects, enabling police to place the alleged thief underneath telephone and bodily surveillance.
Each suspects are believed to have performed lively roles within the brazen Oct. 19 theft on the Louvre, wherein eight valuable items of knickknack, together with crowns containing hundreds of diamonds and different valuable gems, have been stolen, in line with the sources.
Investigators say they’re nonetheless figuring out whether or not a supply contained in the Louvre could have had a task within the theft.
In what seemed to be an intricately deliberate theft, a crew of thieves drove as much as the facet of the museum in what police described as a stolen truck with a “cell freight elevator” or cherry picker on the again that was prolonged as much as a window, in line with the Paris police.
Two of the thieves dressed as development employees used the cherry picker to rise up to the second flooring, the place they minimize by means of the window of the Apollo Gallery utilizing angle grinders, authorities mentioned.
French cops stand subsequent to a furnishings elevator utilized by robbers to enter the Louvre Museum, on Quai Francois Mitterrand, in Paris on October 19, 2025.
Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP by way of Getty Photographs
Upon coming into the gilded gallery, the thieves used energy instruments to chop into the glass instances to achieve the valuable jewels, investigators mentioned.
The whole theft took about seven minutes, in line with investigators.
Beccuau estimated that $102 million value of jewels, together with crowns, necklaces, earrings and a diamond-encrusted brooch that after belonged to Emperor Napoleon and his spouse, have been stolen.
“They knew precisely the place they have been going. It appears like one thing very organized and really skilled,” French Tradition Minister Rachida Dati advised ABC Information final week.
The whereabouts of the jewels stay a thriller.
Among the many jewellery taken was a pearl and diamond tiara from the gathering of Queen Marie-Amelie and Queen Hortense, in line with the Louvre. The tiara, in line with the Louvre, consists of 212 pearls of varied sizes and practically 2,000 diamonds. The piece was commissioned by Emperor Napoleon III for his marriage to Eugenie de Montijo in 1853.
A diadem, or tiara of Empress Eugénie of France was stolen from the Louvre Museum in Paris, Oct. 19, 2025, an official mentioned. (Musée du Louvre / Stéphane Maréchalle)
Musée du Louvre / Stéphane Maréchalle
Additionally stolen was one other tiara from the gathering of Queen Marie-Amelie and Queen Hortense that’s composed of sapphires and greater than 1,000 diamonds, in line with the Louvre.
One crown made from gold, diamonds and emeralds that after belonged to Empress Eugenie was broken in the course of the theft and found on the road exterior the museum, Dati advised ABC Information.
Among the many jewellery stolen from the Louvre museum, Oct. 19, 2025, is that this diadem, or crown, from the gathering of Queen Marie-Amélie and Queen Hortense.
Musée du Louvre / Stéphane Maréchalle
Whereas testifying earlier than France’s Senate Tradition Committee on Wednesday, Laurence des Vehicles, president and director of the Louvre, described the heist as “an immense wound that has been inflicted on us.”
Among the many objects stolen from the Louvre museum, October 19, 2025, is that this emerald necklace from Marie-Louise’s assortment. (Musée du Louvre / Stéphane Maréchalle)
Musée du Louvre / Stéphane Maréchalle
Des Vehicles mentioned the entire museum’s alarms labored correctly, as did its video cameras, however famous a “weak spot” in safety that was taken benefit of by the thieves. She mentioned the one digicam put in exterior the Apollo Gallery was going through west and didn’t cowl the window the place the thieves broke in and exited.
“The weak spot of the Louvre is its perimeter safety, which has been an issue for a very long time … definitely because of underinvestment,” des Vehicles advised the lawmakers.
Des Vehicles added, “We didn’t spot the criminals arriving from exterior early sufficient.”
