Two arrested over 88 million euros Louvre museum jewel heist in Paris

Paris, Oct 27 (IANS) The French Police have arrested two suspects in connection with theft of precious crown jewels, worth an estimated 88 million euros, from Paris's Louvre museum, officials said, a week after one of the country's most spectacular heists in decades.

The Paris Prosecutor's office confirmed the media reports on Sunday that one of the men had been taken into custody at 10 p.m. local time on Saturday as he was preparing to take a flight at the capital's Charles de Gaulle Airport.

The Paris Prosecutor's office said in a statement that the arrests had been made on Saturday evening, without specifying how many people had been taken into custody.

Paris Prosecutor, Laure Beccuau, did not say how many arrests had been made nor whether any jewels had been recovered, but officials close to the investigation confirmed to French media that a second suspect had also been taken into custody in the Paris region.

One of the suspects was preparing to travel to Algeria, police sources have told French media, while it is understood the other suspect was going to Mali, BBC reported.

Items worth €88m (£76m; $102m) were taken from the world's most-visited museum last Sunday, when four thieves wielding power tools broke into the building in broad daylight.

Under French law, people suspected of committing serious crimes can be detained for up to 96 hours before being charged.

France's Justice Minister Gerard Darmanin has conceded security protocols "failed", leaving the country with a "terrible image".

According to reports in French media on Sunday, DNA found at the scene of the robbery led to the identification of one of the suspects.

The gang left behind a number of items, including gloves and a high-vis jacket.

It has previously been reported that they dropped a crown that once belonged to Empress Eugenie, the wife of Napoleon III.

The Paris Prosecutor criticised the "premature disclosure" of information related to the case, adding that it hindered efforts to recover the jewels and find the thieves.

The thieves reportedly arrived at 9:30 (08:30 GMT), shortly after the museum opened to visitors.

The suspects arrived with a vehicle-mounted mechanical lift to gain access to the Galerie d'Apollon (Gallery of Apollo) via a balcony close to the River Seine.

Pictures from the scene showed the ladder leading up to a first-floor window.

Two of the thieves entered by cutting through the window with power tools.

They then threatened the guards, who evacuated the premises, and cut through the glass of two display cases containing jewels.

A preliminary report has revealed that one in three rooms in the area of the museum raided had no CCTV cameras, according to French media.

French police say the thieves were inside for four minutes and made their escape on two scooters waiting outside at 9:38.

The Museum's director Laurence des Cars told French Senators this week that the only camera monitoring the exterior wall of the Louvre where they broke in was pointing away from the first-floor balcony that led to Gallery of Apollo.

CCTV around the perimeter was also weak and "ageing", des Cars said, meaning that staff failed to spot the gang early enough to stop the theft.

Experts have also expressed concern that the jewels may have already been broken up into hundreds of pieces.

Security measures have since been tightened around France's cultural institutions.

The Louvre has transferred some of its most precious jewels to the Bank of France following the heist. They will now be stored in the Bank's most secure vault, 26m (85ft) below the ground floor of its elegant headquarters in central Paris.

--IANS

int/khz