Two Arrested in $100M Louvre Jewel Heist

The alleged thieves are known by police for past robberies and are believed to have conducted the high-profile heist on commission, Le Parisien reported.

Using a cherry picker, the thieves scaled the museum’s Apollo Gallery and broke into the glass displays using chain saws as horrified guests looked on.

The speedy heist was completed in less than four minutes as the thieves slipped in and out, making off with eight pieces from France’s Crown Jewels, worth approximately $100 million.

Looted jewelry included a sapphire diadem, necklace and single earring from a set linked to 19th-century Queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense.

The hasty robbers descended back down using the same cherry picker before attempting to burn the bucket truck in the process of their escape, as they fled on two scooters parked nearby.

Eight pieces from the collection were stolen in the heist, including a sapphire diadem, necklace and single earring from a set linked to 19th-century Queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense.

Empress Eugénie’s diamond diadem and her large corsage-bow brooch — an imperial ensemble of rare craftsmanship — were stolen from the famed museum.

Eugénie’s emerald-set imperial crown, with more than 1,300 diamonds — was later found outside the museum, damaged but recoverable.

Officials collected nearly 150 traces of DNA, fingerprints and hair samples found at the scene to different sites across Paris to connect the individuals to the robbery.

The hair, believed to belong to the first thief that entered the museum, was found in a motorcycle helmet discarded near the scene and a vests, the outlet said.

Since the made-for-Hollywood heist, security has increased around France’s vast cultural institutions.

A preliminary report by France’s Court of Auditors, set to publish in November, found the world’s most visited museum had inadequate video surveillance systems in all three sections of the famed art exhibit, according to Spanish outlet El Pais.

The document discovered security spending was much lower in 2024 than it was two decades earlier.