Two people have been arrested after a high-profile jewellery heist at the Louvre museum in Paris led to a week-long manhunt.
The heist, which unfolded in broad daylight on Sunday 19 October, saw the thieves making off with priceless jewellery, including part of the French crown jewels. The mission took just seven minutes.
A week after the news rocked media outlets around the world, the French press has reported that two men have been taken into custody on Saturday.
The suspects are thought to be part of a criminal network who used a cherry picker to climb through a window in the Louvre’s Apollo Gallery.
The men are known to be originally from Seine-Saint-Denis, in the north of Paris, according to reports from French paper Le Parisien.
One man was apprehended at Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle airport at around 10pm on Saturday by border police, where he was taken into custody by officers. According to French media, he was attempting to board a plane to Algeria.
The second man was also arrested in Paris later that evening.
The French Crown Jewels that were stolen from the Louvre. France’s patrimony, the relics of mighty Napoleon, protected by nothing more than a pane of glass. pic.twitter.com/psXnWGt9v7
— Hernan Cortes (@CyberPunkCortes) October 21, 2025
Investigators had identified the suspects and were monitoring them for days when they realised one of them was planning to leave the country, and launched the arrest operation.
Both men are being held in custody ahead of their trial, where they are suspected of "organised theft" and "criminal conspiracy to commit a crime". They are expected to be detained for up to 96 hours.
The case has sent shockwaves around the world, leading to a flurry of theories from true crime enthusiasts and armchair detectives.
Some have compared the crime to the plot of the now iconic Oceans Eleven franchise, starring George Clooney.
Footage was released of the suspects fleeing the scene on a cherry picker, which some have commented moved “comically slowly” for what is being dubbed “the heist of the century”
🇫🇷🚨BREAKING: Footage of the heist targeting the Louvre in Paris has now been released.
— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) October 22, 2025
This is the first time we can see actual video of the "heist of the century."
Here, the thieves escape on a truck-mounted lift before fleeing on a scooter. pic.twitter.com/LsCrAFeziW
The video has even led to a tongue-in-cheek advertising campaign from a German forklift company who promoted their product with the caption “When things need to be done quickly.”
The German company that built the forklift used in the Louvre robbery uses a photo of the heist to advertise itself: “When things need to be done quickly.”
— BowTiedMara (@BowTiedMara) October 23, 2025
😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/Ucd17nUm7X
Media attention intensified when a photograph of what was thought to be a French detective on the case was released, in a case which some commented, was increasingly beginning to feel stranger than fiction.
The French Detective on scene for the recent jewellery heist at The Louvre in Paris is the most detective looking detective I have ever detected. pic.twitter.com/kCMptMgvKH
— Jay Anderson (@TheProjectUnity) October 23, 2025
The individual was later confirmed to be “just a french guy” walking around, who happened to be captured in the now viral photograph, according to media outlet ETN.
