French police have arrested two men suspected of pulling off one of the most brazen museum robberies in recent history — a S$132 million jewel heist at the Louvre in Paris.
The arrests took place on 26 October, just as one of the suspects was reportedly about to board a flight to Algeria.
Two suspects in the heist have “partially admitted” their involvement, according to Paris prosecutors. Despite the arrests, police remain no closer to recovering the stolen crown jewels.
Caught Before Takeoff
According to Le Parisien, both men are in their 30s and come from Seine-Saint-Denis, a working-class suburb of Paris long associated with poverty and crime.
They were already known to police. One of them was nabbed at Charles de Gaulle Airport, moments before leaving the country.
The Paris prosecutor later confirmed the arrests but declined to give details, fuming that media leaks had compromised the ongoing investigation.
“This revelation can only hinder the investigative efforts of the 100 or so mobilised investigators,” said Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau.
So far, none of the stolen crown jewels have been recovered.
The Seven-Minute Heist That Embarrassed
The robbery took place on 19 October, in broad daylight.
@brutamerica The first footage has emerged showing the jewelry thieves escaping from the Louvre. According to French police, four suspects arrived around 9:30 a.m. on October 19, using a vehicle-mounted lift to access the Galerie d’Apollon via a balcony overlooking the Seine. Two of them cut through a window with power tools, threatened guards, and broke into two display cases containing jewels. Investigators say the gang spent just four minutes inside before fleeing on two scooters. A preliminary report later revealed that one in three rooms in the targeted area had no security cameras. #louvreheist #parisnews #france #artcrime #museumtheft
Four hooded thieves, dressed as construction workers, used a ladder mounted on a truck to scale the museum walls.
They smashed an upstairs window, grabbed eight royal pieces from glass displays, and escaped on motorbikes within seven minutes.
Among the stolen treasures: jewels once worn by Queen Marie-Amélie and Queen Hortense, including a diamond-studded tiara and a pair of earrings.
One priceless piece — the crown of Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III — was found broken outside the museum, apparently dropped during the chaotic getaway.
“A Terrible Failure,” Says Museum Chief
Louvre director Laurence des Cars faced the French Senate days later. She admitted what many suspected — the museum’s surveillance system was outdated and full of blind spots.
“Despite our efforts, despite our hard work on a daily basis, we failed,” she said.
She revealed that the window used for the break-in had no CCTV coverage at all. Only one nearby camera faced west, completely missing the balcony where the thieves entered.
Des Cars even offered to resign after the heist, calling it “a terrible failure,” but Culture Minister Rachida Dati refused her resignation.
The director had been warning for years that the Louvre’s security infrastructure was crumbling. Her pleas for upgrades — citing leaks, unstable temperatures, and security gaps — went largely unanswered.
Now, France’s most-visited museum has become the scene of a national embarrassment.
A Heist For The History Books
The thieves’ dramatic escape and cinematic precision have drawn both outrage and dark admiration online.
Memes flooded social media, with users joking that “at least it’s an old-school heist” — a refreshing break from the usual cyber scams and fraud cases.
But for France, the theft is no laughing matter. The loss of royal jewels worth over S$132 million has forced a reckoning over the state of security.
Investigators are still searching for the missing jewels — and the rest of the crew who turned the Louvre into a live-action movie set.
Watch videos here:
@dailymail The two burglars who were arrested on suspicion of stealing $88 million-worth of jewels from the Louvre were allegedly tied to the scene of the crime thanks to hair strands found in a helmet and high-viz jacket. The two men, who have not been named, were taken into custody a week after the heist at the world’s most visited art museum. Investigators were able to trace one of the suspects, a 39-year-old French-Algerian man, through DNA in a strand of hair found inside a motorcycle helmet abandoned by the robbers during their escape, according to French newspaper Le Parisien. Read more on DailyMail.com 📷 Getty Images, X/Pasletemps75_ #france #museum #jewelry #louvre #news
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