PARIS (Reuters) -Two suspects in the brazen daylight heist of some of France’s crown jewels from the Louvre were arrested in Paris on Saturday evening and are being questioned, Le Parisien newspaper reported on Sunday, citing sources close to the investigation.
One of the two suspects was about to leave the country and was taken into custody at Charles de Gaulle airport at about 10 p.m. on Saturday, the paper said. The other was arrested later in the evening in the Seine-Saint-Denis suburb north of Paris.
Paris police were not immediately available for comment.
Thieves stole eight precious pieces worth an estimated $102 million from the Louvre’s collection on October 19, exposing security lapses as they broke into the world’s most-visited museum using a crane to smash an upstairs window during opening hours. They escaped on motorbikes.
News of the robbery reverberated around the world, prompting soul-searching in France over what some regarded as a national humiliation.
According to Le Parisien, the two men are in their thirties and originally from the Seine-Saint-Denis area. They were known to French police, and one of the suspects was about to depart for Algeria, the newspaper said.
(Reporting by Michel Rose and Kate Entringer; editing by Aidan Lewis and Mark Heinrich)
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