Two men suspected of stealing priceless jewels from Paris's Louvre museum have been arrested, according to the French prosecutor's office. The thieves, who broke into the museum in broad daylight last Sunday, left behind a trail of power tools and high-tech gadgets that helped police track down their suspects.
The arrests were made on Saturday evening, just hours after the heist, with one suspect preparing to travel to Algeria and another bound for Mali. According to French media reports, DNA evidence found at the scene led investigators to identify one of the suspects.
In total, €88m (£76m; $102m) worth of jewels were stolen in the brazen daylight robbery, including a gold tiara encrusted with diamonds and pearls, as well as silver necklaces adorned with green gems. The thieves reportedly broke into the museum via a balcony close to the River Seine using a mechanical lift.
Security protocols at the Louvre have been widely criticized, with France's justice minister conceding that they had "failed". CCTV footage suggests that the thieves were able to evade security cameras, with one camera pointing away from the first-floor balcony where the break-in occurred.
Experts are now expressing concerns about the fate of the stolen jewels. Gold and silver can be melted down, making it virtually impossible to track their provenance. The gems, meanwhile, could have been cut up into smaller stones that will be difficult to trace back to the robbery.
The Louvre has since transferred some of its most precious jewels to a secure vault at the Bank of France, where they are now being stored. Authorities have vowed to do everything in their power to recover the stolen treasures and bring those responsible to justice.
The arrests were made on Saturday evening, just hours after the heist, with one suspect preparing to travel to Algeria and another bound for Mali. According to French media reports, DNA evidence found at the scene led investigators to identify one of the suspects.
In total, €88m (£76m; $102m) worth of jewels were stolen in the brazen daylight robbery, including a gold tiara encrusted with diamonds and pearls, as well as silver necklaces adorned with green gems. The thieves reportedly broke into the museum via a balcony close to the River Seine using a mechanical lift.
Security protocols at the Louvre have been widely criticized, with France's justice minister conceding that they had "failed". CCTV footage suggests that the thieves were able to evade security cameras, with one camera pointing away from the first-floor balcony where the break-in occurred.
Experts are now expressing concerns about the fate of the stolen jewels. Gold and silver can be melted down, making it virtually impossible to track their provenance. The gems, meanwhile, could have been cut up into smaller stones that will be difficult to trace back to the robbery.
The Louvre has since transferred some of its most precious jewels to a secure vault at the Bank of France, where they are now being stored. Authorities have vowed to do everything in their power to recover the stolen treasures and bring those responsible to justice.
]
This whole thing is a masterclass in how not to prevent theft, you know? I mean, breaking into a museum in broad daylight and leaving behind all these high-tech gadgets sounds like a recipe for disaster. It's like they wanted it to be easy for the police to catch them. And now, because of security protocols that were clearly inadequate, we've got a huge loss on our hands. 
The thing is, though, even though you can't track down the stolen jewels anymore, this whole situation still teaches us a lesson about accountability and responsibility. I mean, if the justice minister says the system "failed", then what does that say about us as a society? Are we so complacent that we expect security protocols to fail on purpose? 
Either way, it's a wake-up call for all of us to reevaluate our priorities and take responsibility for our own actions. 
I mean, €88m worth of stuff is a crazy amount, and you'd think that would give them some leads. But apparently not? The part that really gets me is that those thieves were so clever they even managed to evade security cameras 
like it was no big deal. And now the gems are basically worthless because someone can just melt 'em down and sell 'em... it's just crazy! I hope the authorities can get those jewels back for us, fam 
️ those thieves were so brazen lol but i'm glad the police were able to track them down so fast! 88 million euros is insane, can you imagine how beautiful some of that jewelry must be 
and yeah security protocols definitely need a major overhaul. i feel bad for the museum staff who have to deal with this kind of thing but i guess they're doing everything they can to get the jewels back 
i mean, breaking into a museum in broad daylight? 
that's like, so not stealthy. and yeah, security protocols failed, but it's not all the museum's fault... 
it's like, how many cameras do you need to cover every inch of a building? 
i've seen those mechanical lifts before, they're pretty common in old buildings. 
anyway, i'm glad the thieves got caught, but ugh, €88m worth of jewels just disappeared... 
Can't believe this is happening again! I mean, who breaks into a museum during the day? Like, what's the plan here? 
It's not like they were trying to be sneaky or anything... they basically walked in with power tools and high-tech gadgets. 
And now we're worried about those stolen jewels? €88m is a lot of cash! 
Maybe this will be the wake-up call they need? 
Also, who uses mechanical lifts to break into museums? That's just asking for a forensic trail! 
This is just a whole mess of problems.
I'm still trying to wrap my head around the sheer audacity of these thieves! Breaking into the Louvre during the day when families were visiting, it's just crazy. 
. hopefully the authorities can recover what they can and get the thieves brought to justice 
though that tiara tho... still can't believe someone would steal something so iconic 
, so I'm guessing there's more to this story than meets the eye 
.
. But on the other hand, it's clear that something went seriously wrong at the Louvre.
. Fingers crossed that authorities can recover some of these treasures and bring the thieves to justice