A number of people have been arrested over the theft of jewels from the Louvre, the Paris prosecutor has said.
The priceless crown jewels were taken from the museum last Sunday, when four thieves wielding power tools broke into the building in broad daylight. The heist is reported to have occurred at 9.30am local time and lasted several minutes.
Two suspects, from Seine-Saint-Denis, a department of the northern Paris metropolis, were arrested on Saturday evening, according to Le Parisien.
Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau did not confirm the number of arrests. Her office said one of those arrested had been about to leave the country from Charles de Gaulle airport. A source close to the investigation told BFMTV he was heading for Algeria. Another person was arrested in Seine-Saint-Denis, according to French media.
A group of four thieves entered the Galerie d’Apollon, which holds the remains of the French crown jewels, and made away with nine pieces of jewellery, using a scooter to escape.
Interior minister Laurent Nuñez described the incident as a “major robbery” involving “jewels that have genuine heritage value and are, in fact, priceless”.
The culture ministry confirmed the stolen items included a tiara, necklace and a single earring from a set that had belonged to Queen Marie-Amelie and Queen Hortense; an emerald necklace and a pair of emerald earrings from the Empress Marie Louise set; a brooch known as the “reliquary brooch”; and a tiara and large corsage bow brooch belonging to Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III.
According to the museum’s website, the tiara from the set belonging to the two queens is “composed of five articulated elements, each topped with a large sapphire. In total [there are] 24 sapphires, 10 of which [are] very small, and 1,083 diamonds.”
The Queen Marie-Amelie and Queen Hortense sapphire set belonged to King Louis Philippe’s wife, while the Empress Marie Louise emerald set was a gift to Napoleon’s second wife.
The Empress Eugénie tiara, corsage brooch, and “reliquary brooch” were made in the 1850s. The brooch alone contains 2,438 diamonds.
The culture minister, Rachida Dati, said the robbery lasted less than four minutes. She said footage of the operation revealed that the thieves “don’t target people, they enter calmly in four minutes, smash display cases, take their loot and leave”.
“No violence, very professional,” she was quoted as saying by TF1.
The Louvre, which draws tens of thousands of visitors daily, was closed last Sunday for “exceptional reasons”.
