French authorities have made arrests in connection with the recent jewelry theft at the Louvre Museum in Paris. Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau confirmed this morning that the arrests were made the previous evening, Saturday. One of the individuals taken into custody was detained at Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport: he was about to board a flight to Algeria, French press sources learned, confirming the information around 8 p.m. Saturday. A second suspect was arrested shortly thereafter in the Paris region. Both men, who are in their mid-30s and from the Seine-Saint-Denis area, were already known to law enforcement agencies for previous offenses, including alleged crimes such as robbing jewelry stores.
According to sources close to the investigation, the identification of the suspects was made possible byanalysis of DNA found at the crime scene. Investigators had managed to collect DNA and fingerprint samples, as well as gloves and a high-visibility vest, and track the thieves’ movements through public and private security cameras in Paris and surrounding regions. The two are currently in custody on charges of organized robbery and criminal conspiracy.
The theft occurred in broad daylight on Oct. 19. The thieves, who are believed to have been four in total (two entered and two to escape), took only four minutes to carry out the heist. They used an extendable ladder mounted on a truck or a mechanical lift to reach a gallery on the second floor (the Galerie d’Apollon), then cut a window with power tools and threatened the guards before fleeing on a scooter. Eight pieces of culturally valuable jewelry, estimated at a total of around 88 million euros, were stolen.
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| Louvre: two arrests in the theft of the Crown Jewels |
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