The daring Louvre heist that captured the world’s attention ended with a failed getaway at a French airport.
French police apprehended the two of the four-suspected robbers who carried out a jewel heist worth more than $100 million at the Louvre Museum in Paris, according to a statement made by French authorities Saturday night.
The search for the now-notorious criminals culminated in a showdown at Roissy–Charles de Gaulle Airport, the New York Times reported, as one of the suspects tried to flee the country by boarding an international flight.
Both suspects were in their thirties, CNN reported.
“I deeply regret the hasty disclosure of this information,” Laure Beccuau, the Paris prosecutor, wrote in a statement to the Times. She added that news of the arrest, first reported by French media, would bog down “the 100 or so investigators who mobilized in the search for both the stolen jewelry and for all of the criminals.”
It’s not yet known whether any of the millions of dollars worth of jewels from the world’s most visited museum were recovered by authorities. Ms. Beccuau declined to provide further details.
The quartet of thieves swiped priceless tiaras and brooches from the Louvre on Sunday in broad daylight. They entered and escaped using a truck-mounted lift that gave them access to the museum’s second-floor balcony. They cut through a window, smashed glass display cases holding France’s crown jewels, and escaped the same way they entered—all within seven minutes.
Since then, the museum’s security lapses have become the reluctant subject of worldwide scrutiny.
“We failed,” French Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin said last week, the Washington Post reported. He added that the robbery painted a “deplorable image of France.”
Laurence des Cars, director of the Louvre, also told the outlet that the building’s surveillance system had a blind spot on the perimeter that likely helped enable the heist, which was likely was likely the most expensive ever pulled off at the grand museum.
Some art experts have theorized that the Louvre was targeted not for the specific jewels that were swiped, but because the majority of museums are less secure than a typical high-end jewelry store in 2025.
Construction on what would become the Paris museum began in 1546. Security considerations that are now a no-brainer for modern museums were not yet thought of, making it relatively easy for thieves to nab eight pieces from the Louvre’s collection.
“It seems like a scenario out of a film or a television series,” said Ariel Weil, the mayor of central Paris, last Sunday.
