Two suspects from Louvre jewellery heist arrested by French police: Reports

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French authorities have detained several men in connection to the recent theft of precious jewellery from the world-renowned Louvre museum in Paris, the Paris prosecutor has said.

The prosecutor said on Sunday that investigators made the arrests on Saturday evening, adding that one of the men taken into custody was preparing to leave the country from Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport.

French media outlets Le Parisien and Paris Match reported that the arrest at the airport took place at around 10 pm (20:00 GMT) on Saturday, while a second suspect was arrested not long after in the Paris region, according to Le Parisien.

The Louvre Museum in the French capital closed one week ago after a group of intruders successfully stole eight pieces of priceless jewellery in a quick-hit four-minute heist in broad daylight that rocked the world’s most-visited museum and was followed raptly around the globe.

The robbers had climbed the extendable ladder of a movers’ truck and cut into a first-floor gallery.

They dropped a crown as they fled down the ladder and onto scooters, but managed to steal eight other pieces, include an emerald-and-diamond necklace that Napoleon Bonaparte gave his wife, Empress Marie-Louise.

Officials said the jewels were worth an estimated $102 million but held incalculable cultural value.

An intensive manhunt for the thieves has been ongoing, involving dozens of investigators.

The brazen theft has made headlines across the world and sparked a debate in France about the security of cultural institutions.

Police initially cordoned off the museum – famously home to Leonardo da Vinci’s painting Mona Lisa – with tape and as armed soldiers patrolled its iconic glass pyramid entrance.

More to come…