Louvre jewelry theft suspects arrested, authorities say

The suspects in a daring heist at the Louvre Museum in Paris have been arrested, the Paris prosecutor announced on Sunday.

In a press release, Laure Beccuau specifies that the suspects were taken into custody on Saturday evening following a week-long manhunt.

Beccuau, who did not specify exactly how many people had been arrested, added that one of the suspects was trying to leave France from Roissy airport.

French authorities have launched an investigation after a daring daylight theft saw thieves break into the Louvre’s Apollo Gallery and make off with several “priceless” jewels last Sunday.

Beccuau told BFM TV on Monday that around 60 investigators had been mobilized to find the thieves, adding that authorities had “total determination” to recover the stolen objects, including royal jewels from the First and Second French Empire.

French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez previously told France Inter radio that the thieves gained access to the museum using a truck equipped with a lifting system and an angle grinder to force open a window.

They then targeted several windows before fleeing on scooters, he said.

Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin said the state had “failed” to protect one of its most famous monuments.

“We cannot completely secure all the sites, but what is certain is that we have failed, because it is possible to install a freight elevator in the middle of a Parisian street, to lift people in a few minutes to steal priceless jewels, and to give a terrible image to France,” Darmanin said Monday morning on France Inter.

“These people will be arrested,” he added.