French authorities arrest two suspects in theft of crown jewels from Paris’ Louvre museum

French authorities have arrested two suspects in last week’s theft of France’s Crown Jewels from Paris’ Louvre museum, local media reported.

Investigators made the arrests Saturday evening, catching one man at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport attempting to leave the country, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said.

French outlets BFM and Le Parisien first reported the two arrests. Ms. Beccuau neither confirmed the arrests nor said whether any jewels had been recovered. She told other outlets that she “deeply deplores the hasty disclosure of this information.”

Le Parisien reported that the two men in custody have a history of burglaries, though Ms. Beccuau said she would only provide more information after the initial custody period of 96 hours is over.

The stolen items are estimated to be worth more $102 million and involved four individuals. French police said the criminals were inside the museum for only four minutes, having used a basket lift and smashed a window to gain entry after the museum opened last Sunday.

The stunning, daytime robbery has captured the world’s imagination but also has left an indelible stain on the reputation of the Louvre museum’s security, one of the largest collections of priceless art and objects in the world.

While the Louvre’s director called the incident a “terrible failure,” one German manufacturer of the portable ladder involved in the heist has captured some of the buzz.

A new ad campaign by Boecker Machine Works, which produces the mobile furniture ladder used in the daring theft, published a photo of the crime scene with the caption, “When you need to move fast,” adding that the ladder operates “quiet as a whisper.”

The Louvre reopened last week after the brazen heist of the French Crown Jewel — a cultural wound that some compared to the burning of Notre Dame Cathedral in 2019.

The thieves made away with a total of eight objects, including a sapphire diadem, necklace and single earring from a set linked to 19th-century queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense.

They also took an emerald necklace and earrings tied to Empress Marie-Louise, Napoleon Bonaparte’s second wife, as well as a reliquary brooch. Empress Eugénie’s diamond diadem and her large corsage-bow brooch — an imperial ensemble of rare craftsmanship — were also part of the loot.

One piece — Eugénie’s emerald-set imperial crown with more than 1,300 diamonds — was later found outside the museum, damaged but recoverable.