Mary Gilmore, Staff Writer
In a stunning breach of security, four masked thieves stole $102 million worth of jewels from the Louvre Museum in under 10 minutes. French authorities were able to arrest two suspects, with the other two still at large and no trace of the missing jewels.
On the morning of October 19, 2025, the Louvre Museum was robbed. At approximately 9:30am, four masked individuals disguised as construction workers infiltrated the Galerie d’Apollon, a section of the Louvre that houses France’s crown jewels. The operation lasted just over seven minutes, with the thieves entering a window by use of an extendable ladder.
Once they entered, according to the police, the thieves smashed two display cases using an angle grinder and removed eight pieces of jewelry belonging to Emperor Napoleon and his wife. The thieves then sped away and escaped on two motorbikes.
While the thieves were not found immediately, France Correspondent Catherine Field told Mike Hosking the criminals allegedly left behind a fair bit of DNA evidence. This DNA was then tested against criminal databases. Two suspects were identified using this database method.
The French National Police confirmed that at 10pm on October 25th, one suspect was apprehended at the Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport while trying to board a plane bound for Algeria. A second suspect was also arrested while waiting for a flight to Mali.
The individual who was set for Algeria is a 34-year-old Algerian who has been living in France for 15 years. The one planning to go to Mali is a 39-year-old who was recently part of an aggravated theft case.
Then, on October 29th, two more suspects were identified and taken into custody. Prosecutors stated that the airport suspects began admitting some involvement in the theft, likely leading to the identities of the other two suspects.
The two suspects identified included a 37-year-old man and 38-year-old woman. It’s theorized that the pair are romantically involved and have two children together. Prosecutor Laure Beccuau stated that the 37-year-old man has a history of theft-related offenses. Investigators suspect he was one of the four individuals involved in the jewel heist, citing DNA traces discovered within the getaway truck as key evidence. Additionally, DNA traces of the woman were found in the truck, but the police believe this DNA was carried on by another individual rather than her being present. This means the woman is not believed to have been on the scene of the crime, but they think she was still complicit in the theft.
“This is not quite everyday delinquency, but it is a type of delinquency that we do not generally associate with the upper echelons of organized crime.” Beccuau gave this statement during her November 2nd interview on France Info radio.
This leaves one individual unaccounted for as four masked individuals stole the jewels. No information regarding this last individual has been released to the public at the time of writing.
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