Prosecutor furious as news leaks of Louvre heist gang arrests

Two men have been arrested following a robbery at the Louvre museum in Paris which saw thieves escape with priceless jewellery, including part of the French crown jewels.

Confirming arrests had been made on Saturday night, French public prosecutor Laure Beccuau appeared furious with the way the arrests were announced.

She said: “I deeply deplore the hasty disclosure of this information by informed individuals, without consideration for the investigation.

“This revelation can only harm the investigative efforts of the hundred or so investigators involved in the search for both the stolen jewellery and all the perpetrators.”

While Ms Beccuau did not confirm the number of arrests, she said one man had been arrested as he was preparing to leave the country from Charles de Gaulle Airport.

A second man was arrested on the same evening, also in the Paris region, according to French media.

Ms Beccuau did not say whether jewels had been recovered.

Both men are originally from Seine-Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris, according to French daily paper Le Parisien.

The operation is understood to have been swiftly launched after investigators, who had been monitoring the two individuals for days, realised that one of them was about to flee abroad. French media reported he was set to board a flight to Algeria.

Ms Beccuau said it was too early to provide any further details, but would say more at the end of the period of police custody.

Commenting on the arrests on social media, France’s interior minister Laurent Nunez praised the investigators for “working tirelessly” and said “the investigations must continue while respecting the confidentiality of the inquiry”.

The suspects are now in pre-trial detention as part of investigations into the “organised theft” and “criminal conspiracy to commit a crime”. They can be held for up to 96 hours.

The men are suspected of being part of the group of criminals who used a cherry picker to reach a window in the Apollo Gallery of the Louvre, smashing display cases and making off with jewels worth £76m. They fled on motorbikes.

One of the world’s most famous museums, attracting up to 30,000 visitors a day, the Louvre was forced to close last Sunday morning after thieves accessed a gallery containing the French crown jewels at around 9.30am local time (8.30am UK time).

It took them less than eight minutes to steal eight “priceless” objects, including sapphire and emerald necklaces, and a diamond brooch containing 2,438 diamonds.

A ninth item – the emerald crown of Napoleon III’s wife, Empress Eugenie – was stolen but recovered, damaged at the scene.