Suspects are in custody in connection with the Louvre robbery. The Paris prosecutor said they were taken into custody late Saturday evening.
Authorities will not specify how many are in custody. However, French media reports suggest that French police have two suspects. DNA found at the scene reportedly led to one of the arrests.
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Fleeing to Algeria, hiding in the suburbs
Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said one of the suspects was detained at Charles de Gaulle Airport as he attempted to fly to Algeria. Another suspect was reportedly found in the Seine-Saint-Denis suburb north of Paris.
Authorities said the thieves used a crane to break a window and gain direct entry into the gallery containing the French Crown Jewels. Some of the suspects then fled the scene on motorbikes. Video shows two of the suspects riding away on a cherry picker.
Inside job?
Experts contend the heist involved someone on the inside. The thieves got away with eight imperial jewelry pieces, including a sapphire diadem, an emerald necklace and a corsage brooch belonging to Empress Eugenie, the wife of Napoleon III. The jewels are valued at roughly 88 million euros ($100 million).
The window at the Louvre has become an unlikely attraction after last week’s daring daylight jewel heist at the world’s most visited museum. Tourists now gather outside the famed Paris landmark to snap photos of the window that thieves used to break into the Apollo Gallery.
