Police have arrested two men suspected of being part of a gang who made off with part of France’s crown jewels worth £76m from the Louvre.
One man was arrested at Charles de Gaulle Airport last night after investigors found he was preparing to flee abroad, likely to Algeria, Le Parisien reports.
The other was arrested in the Paris region during the same evening.
Thieves made off with eight precious objects, including a sapphire diadem, necklace and single earring from a set linked to 19th-century queens Marie-Amelie and Hortense.
They also stole an emerald necklace and earrings tied to Empress Marie-Louise, Napoleon Bonaparte’s second wife, and a reliquary brooch.
Empress Eugenie’s diamond diadem and her large corsage-bow brooch were also part of the loot.
One piece – Eugenie’s emerald-set imperial crown, with more than 1,300 diamonds – was later found outside the museum, damaged but recoverable.
Prosecutor Laure Beccuau valued the haul at 88 million euros (£76 million, or over $100 million).
But she warned that it was likely the jewellery would be destroyed by prying out the gems and melting down the metal, to make them easier to sell for a fraction of their true value.
More to follow.
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