Almost a week after the cinematic burglary at the Louvre Museum, two men were arrested and taken into custody as suspects in the case.

Their arrest on Saturday night was officially confirmed today, Sunday. The first relevant information about the progress of the police investigation was published by French media, including Paris Match and Le Parisien.

Paris prosecutor Laure Beko said in a statement this morning that police investigators made arrests on Saturday evening.

According to the newspaper Le Monde, one of the two suspects is a French citizen, while the other has dual French-Algerian citizenship.

The latter was arrested on Saturday around 10 pm (local time) at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, as he was preparing to board a flight to Algeria.

The two suspects were monitored by the police for several days, in the hope that their movements would lead to the thieves and their accomplices. However, the police then stepped up their operations. The second suspect was arrested at the same time, in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis.

Known to the police

Both, aged around 30 years old, were known to the police for thefts, according to a source for Le Monde. Their detention for organized theft and criminal conspiracy could last up to 96 hours.

At this stage of the investigation, police are seeking to recover the stolen jewels, estimated to be worth 88 million euros, as well as their accomplices. French Interior Minister Laurent Niñez congratulated the investigators who worked tirelessly on the case, in a message to X this morning.

Affaire du #Louvre: j’adresse mes plus vives félicitations aux enquêteurs qui ont travaille sans release comme je le leur ai demandé et qui ont toujours eu toute ma confiance. The investigations must be pursued en respecting the secret of the investigation under the authority of the...

— Laurent Nuñez (@NunezLaurent) October 26, 2025

The Paris prosecutor, for her part, expressed regret over the disclosure of the information by the press, which, she said, could hinder the efforts of the approximately 100 police officers involved in the search for both the stolen jewels and the perpetrators.

He clarified that the prosecution will provide additional information on the case at the end of the period of police detention of the arrested.

On Sunday, October 19, at around 9:30 a.m., four people set up a lift outside the Louvre Museum and two of them, wearing masks, broke into the Apollo gallery. After breaking open display cases containing the jewelry using wheels, the thieves escaped on two scooters driven by their accomplices.

We always find the thieves.

The break-in, which went viral around the world, lasted a total of seven to eight minutes. More than 150 DNA samples were taken at the scene, Lor Beko said on Thursday. As they fled, the perpetrators left behind gloves, a helmet, two-wheeler, yellow vest and a portable radio, which were also sampled. They did not have time to set fire to the lift, which was also examined by police.

The prosecutor also explained that video surveillance made it possible to follow the perpetrators' route both in Paris and in neighboring areas. Also, images of the perpetrators' movements were available from public and private cameras (motorways, banks, businesses, etc.), she added. This information made it possible to identify the two suspects who were arrested, according to the prosecutor's office.

Apart from the crown of Empress Eugenia, which was found damaged, researchers have not yet found any trace of the remaining stolen jewels.

"We always end up finding the thieves," Laurent Niñez said in an interview published in the newspaper La Tribune Dimanche."Unfortunately, the loot often goes abroad. I hope that the same thing has not happened in this case, I remain optimistic," he added. Authorities are concerned that the perpetrators could have removed diamonds and precious stones and have already melted down the jewelry.