Camille Naredo

A French police officer walks in front of the Louvre Museum after a robbery, in Paris on October 19, 2025. Dimitar Dilkoff, AFP

A French police officer walks in front of the Louvre Museum after a robbery, in Paris on October 19, 2025. Robbers broke in to the Louvre and fled with jewellery on October 19, 2025 morning, a source close to the case said, adding that its value was still being evaluated. A police source said an unknown number of thieves arrived on a scooter armed with small chainsaws and used a goods lift to reach the room they were targeting. (Photo by Dimitar DILKOFF / AFP) / -- IMAGE RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - STRICTLY NO COMMERCIAL USE --

Article (news)

Louvre 

Agence France-Presse

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1761490816411AFP__20251019__79AW9ZU__v2__MidRes__FranceMuseumRobbery.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="A French police officer walks in front of the Louvre Museum after a robbery, in Paris on October 19, 2025. Dimitar Dilkoff, AFP"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">A French police officer walks in front of the Louvre Museum after a robbery, in Paris on October 19, 2025. <em>Dimitar Dilkoff, AFP</em></span></span></span></div><p>PARIS, France -- French authorities have detained two of the suspected robbers believed to have stolen precious crown jewels from the Louvre in a museum heist that stunned the world, officials said Sunday.</p><p>A swarm of investigators had been mobilized to track down the thieves who robbed the world-renowned museum in broad daylight on October 19, making off with jewelry worth an estimated $102 million in just a few minutes.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/10/19/power-tool-wielding-robbers-flee-louvre-with-priceless-jewellery-2158">READ: Robbers steal French crown jewels from Louvre</a></div><p>Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said they had &quot;carried out arrests on Saturday evening&quot;.</p><p>&quot;One of the men arrested was about to leave the country&quot; from Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport, Beccuau said.</p><p>A source close to the case told AFP the man was about to board a plane for Algeria.</p><p>The second man had been detained not long afterward in the Paris region, media reports said.</p><p>The two men were taken into police custody on suspicion of organized theft and criminal conspiracy. They could be held up to 96 hours.</p><p>Beccuau deplored the public revelation of the arrests, first revealed in media reports, warning they &quot;can only hinder the efforts of the 100 investigators mobilized&quot; in the hunt for the jewels and the perpetrators.</p><p>Interior Minister Laurent Nunez also called for confidentiality while congratulating the investigators &quot;who have worked tirelessly&quot;, in a post on X.</p><p>In the heist last Sunday, the robbers clambered up the extendable ladder of a stolen movers&#x27; truck and, using cutting equipment, broke into a first-floor gallery that houses royal gems.</p><p>They dropped a diamond- and emerald-studded crown as they fled down the ladder and onto scooters, but managed to steal eight other pieces, including an emerald-and-diamond necklace that Napoleon Bonaparte gave his wife, Empress Marie-Louise.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/10/21/louvre-denies-tapping-israeli-firm-in-theft-probe-1107">READ: Louvre denies tapping Israeli firm in theft probe</a></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>- &#x27;Concern for the jewelry&#x27; -</strong></div><p>The brazen theft has made headlines across the world and sparked a debate in France about the security of cultural institutions.</p><p>The Louvre&#x27;s director has admitted the robbers had taken advantage of a blind spot in the security surveillance of the museum&#x27;s outside walls.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/10/23/louvre-director-admits-insufficient-camera-coverage-after-heist-0116">READ: Louvre director admits &#x27;insufficient&#x27; camera coverage after heist</a></div><p>But Beccuau said public and private security cameras elsewhere had allowed detectives to track the thieves &quot;in Paris and in surrounding regions&quot;.</p><p>Investigators were also able to find DNA samples and fingerprints at the scene from items left behind by the robbers as they fled, including gloves, a high-vis vest, a blowtorch and power tools.</p><p>They also dropped a crown that once belonged to Empress Eugenie, the wife of Napoleon III, which was damaged and needs to be restored.</p><p>The rest of the pieces have not been recovered and risk to be broken apart, their precious metal settings melted down.</p><p>Nunez expressed his &quot;concern for the jewelry&quot; in an interview with French weekly La Tribune Dimanche on Sunday, saying the heist appeared to have been carried out by an organized crime group but adding that &quot;thieves are always eventually caught&quot;.</p><p>&quot;The loot is unfortunately often stashed abroad. I hope that&#x27;s not the case -- I remain confident,&quot; he added.</p><p>The Louvre theft is the latest in a string of robberies targeting French museums.</p><p>Less than 24 hours after the Louvre break-in, a museum in eastern France reported the theft of gold and silver coins after finding a smashed display case.</p><p>Last month, criminals broke into Paris&#x27;s Natural History Museum, making off with gold nuggets worth more than $1.5 million. A Chinese woman has been detained and charged with involvement in the theft.</p><p>Culture Minister Rachida Dati said on X on Friday she had requested findings from an investigation into the Louvre&#x27;s security by early next week to &quot;announce concrete measures to secure&quot; the museum.</p>

<p>French authorities have detained two of the suspected robbers believed to have stolen precious crown jewels from the Louvre in a museum heist that stunned the world, officials said Sunday.</p>

French authorities have detained two of the suspected robbers believed to have stolen precious crown jewels from the Louvre in a museum heist that stunned the world, officials said Sunday.

Two suspects arrested in Louvre jewel heist

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Two suspects arrested in Louvre jewel heist

Agence France-Presse

Published October 26, 2025 11:03 PM PHT

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Laure Beccuau

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