DNA traces lead to arrest of two suspects after Louvre jewel heist

Two suspects have been arrested a week after the brazen theft of jewellery from the Louvre Museum in Paris, prosecutors confirmed on Sunday.

One of the suspects was detained at Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle Airport, while the second suspect was arrested in the Paris region, Paris public prosecutor Laure Beccuau told dpa.

The arrests were made on Saturday evening. Both have been remanded in custody on charges of gang-related theft, prosecutors said. Two other alleged accomplices are still on the run.

According to broadcaster BFMTV, the two men are about 30 years old and already known to police. France Info reported that DNA traces found at the crime scene led investigators directly to the suspects.

Paris Match magazine reported that one of the men, arrested at the airport, had apparently planned to fly to Algeria.

Prosecutor Laure Beccuau criticized the premature release of information by third parties, saying it had hindered the investigation.

The Louvre was evacuated and shut down a week ago after four masked thieves broke into the Apollo Gallery, home to France's remaining crown jewels.

They broke into two display cases and made off with eight pieces of jewellery once owned by French queens and empresses, with an estimated value of €88 million ($102 million).

There has been no word from officials since the arrests about the whereabouts of the jewels.

On Friday, prosecutors said investigators had recovered more than 150 DNA samples, fingerprints and other clues at the scene of the heist.

Writing on X, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez extended his "warmest congratulations to the investigators who have worked tirelessly" on the case.

He told the Libération newspaper that stolen jewels are often smuggled abroad and expressed hope that this would not happen in this case.

Experts, however, fear that the diamonds and gemstones may already have been removed and the gold melted down.

It is estimated that only about 8% of all stolen artworks are ever recovered.

A look at past high-profile art thefts shows that most loot disappears without a trace, including a painting by the celebrated French landscape artist Jean-Baptiste Corot, stolen from the Louvre in 1998.

In 2010, five works by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Georges Braque, Amedeo Modigliani and Fernand Léger were taken from Paris' Museum of Modern Art.

One of the world's most notorious art heists occurred in 1990 at Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, where 13 masterpieces worth an estimated $500 million - including works by Rembrandt and Vermeer - were stolen and never recovered, despite an FBI reward of $10 million. Empty frames still hang in their place today.

The theft has reignited debate over security at the Louvre, the world's most visited museum, which houses Leonardo da Vinci's iconic Mona Lisa.

The museum reopened to the public on Wednesday, except for the Apollo Gallery.