Suspects Arrested After Theft Of Crown Jewels

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French officials announced the arrest of two suspects in the case of the theft of the Crown Jewels from the Louvre Museum. The update comes a week after the theft that stunned the world, inspired endless content on social media and sparked a massive manhunt.

RELATED: Footage shows alleged suspects fleeing Louvre after stealing more than $100 million worth of jewelry (Video)

A suspect was arrested while trying to flee the country

The Paris prosecutor said on Sunday (October 26) that investigators made arrests on Saturday evening. Prosecutor Laure Picot did not confirm the number of detainees and did not say whether any of the Louvre jewels had been recovered. However, French TV channel BFM and Le Parisien newspaper reported earlier that police officials had arrested two suspects. Bekwao also said investigators from the special police unit responsible for armed robberies, serious burglaries and art theft made the arrests.

A police official — who was not authorized to speak publicly about the case — also told The Associated Press that the two men were in their 30s and were known to police. He said that one of the suspects was arrested while trying to board a plane bound for Algeria from Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris.

In addition, police identified one of the suspects through DNA traces. Prosecutor Bekwau said earlier this week that forensic experts were analyzing 150 samples at the scene.

The Public Prosecutor calls for early leakage of arrests

In her statement, Prosecutor Laure Bekou expressed her regret that the information was leaked prematurely. She said this could hinder the work of more than 100 investigators “They were mobilized to recover the stolen jewelery and arrest all the culprits.”

“I deeply regret the hasty disclosure of this information by knowledgeable individuals, without consideration of the investigation,” Pekwao told ABC News on Sunday evening.

Bekwao said officials will reveal more details after the suspects’ detention period ends. As of Saturday evening, police had up to 96 hours to detain the alleged suspects before releasing or charging them. It is unclear whether these suspects were still in custody on Tuesday.

French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez praised “Detectives who worked tirelessly, exactly as I asked them to, and who always had my complete trust.”

A summary of what the thieves stole during the robbery of the Louvre Museum

It took thieves less than eight minutes on October 19 to steal jewelry from the world’s most visited museum. The value of the stolen goods is estimated at 88 million euros ($102 million). French officials described how the intruders used an elevator to scale the facade of the Louvre, forced open a window, smashed display cases and fled. The museum director described the incident as a “miserable failure.”

The thieves escaped with eight items. The listing includes one ruby diadem, one pendant and one earring from a collection associated with the 19th-century queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense. They also took an emerald necklace and earrings worn by Empress Marie Louise, Napoleon Bonaparte’s second wife, and a relic brooch. Empress Eugenie’s diamond diadem and her large bow-shaped brooch were also part of the loot. Officials later found one piece, Eugénie’s emerald-encrusted Imperial Crown containing more than 1,300 diamonds. It was outside the museum, damaged but repairable.

The Louvre Museum reopened last week after one of the biggest museum robberies of the century. Meanwhile, the world remains gagged by the audacity and scale of the theft that has now inspired Halloween costumes.