Suspects arrested over the theft of crown jewels from Paris' Louvre
museum
[October 27, 2025]
By SAMUEL PETREQUIN and NICOLAS GARRIGA
PARIS (AP) — Two suspects were arrested in connection with the theft of
crown jewels from Paris’ Louvre museum, justice and police officials
said Sunday, a week after the heist that stunned the world and sparked a
massive manhunt.
The Paris prosecutor said that investigators made arrests 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 BFM TV and Le Parisien newspaper earlier reported that two
suspects had been arrested and taken into custody. Paris prosecutor
Laure Beccuau did not confirm the number of arrests and did not say
whether any jewels had been recovered.
A police official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the
ongoing case, told The Associated Press that two men in their 30s, both
known to police, were taken into custody. He said one suspect was
arrested as he attempted to board a plane bound for Algeria. The
official added that one of the suspects was identified through DNA
traces. Beccuau said earlier this week that forensics experts were
analyzing 150 samples at the scene.
The suspects can be held in police custody up to 96 hours.
Special police unit
Thieves took less than eight minutes last Sunday morning to steal jewels
valued at 88 million euros ($102 million) from the world’s most-visited
museum. French officials described how the intruders used a basket lift
to scale the Louvre’s façade, forced open a window, smashed display
cases and fled. The museum’s director called the incident a “terrible
failure.”
Beccuau said investigators from a special police unit in charge of armed
robberies, serious burglaries and art thefts made the arrests. In her
statement, she rued the premature leak of information, saying it could
hinder the work of over 100 investigators “mobilized to recover the
stolen jewels and apprehend all of the perpetrators.” Beccuau said
further details will be unveiled after the suspects’ custody period
ends.
French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez praised “the investigators who
have worked tirelessly, just as I asked them to, and who have always had
my full confidence.”
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Visitors queue outside the Louvre museum, one week after the
robbery, Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025 in Paris. The Paris prosecutor said
on Sunday that a number of suspects have been arrested over the
theft of crown jewels from Paris' Louvre museum last weekend. (AP
Photo/Thomas Padilla)
The Louvre reopened earlier this week after one of the
highest-profile museum thefts of the century stunned the world with
its audacity and scale.
The thieves slipped in and out, making off with some of France’s
crown jewels — a cultural wound that some compared to the burning of
Notre Dame Cathedral in 2019.
The thieves escaped with a total of eight objects, including a
sapphire diadem, necklace and single earring from a set linked to
19th-century queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense.
They also took an emerald necklace and earrings tied to Empress
Marie-Louise, Napoleon Bonaparte’s second wife, as well as a
reliquary brooch. Empress Eugénie’s diamond diadem and her large
corsage-bow brooch — an imperial ensemble of rare craftsmanship —
were also part of the loot.
One piece — Eugénie’s emerald-set imperial crown with more than
1,300 diamonds — was later found outside the museum, damaged but
repairable.
News of the arrests was met with relief by Louvre visitors and
passersby on Sunday.
“It’s important for our heritage. A week later, it does feel a bit
late, we wonder how this could even happen — but it was important
that the guys were caught,” said Freddy Jacquemet.
“I think the main thing now is whether they can recover the jewels,"
added Diana Ramirez. “That’s what really matters.”
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Petrequin reported from London.
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