Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
French police have made the first arrests linked to the spectacular heist at the Louvre last week, when four burglars broke into the Paris museum and made off with eight pieces of royal jewellery.
Prosecutor Laure Beccuau said on Sunday morning that investigators had arrested suspects on Saturday evening and taken them into custody. One of the men was arrested at Charles de Gaulle airport while attempting to leave France.
Beccuau did not confirm the number of arrests made but warned that leaks about the investigation in the French press could only hurt the investigation that is being led by about 100 investigators.
The newspaper Le Parisien reported earlier on Sunday that the detainees were two men in their thirties with a history of previous burglaries, one of whom was planning to fly to Algeria. Prosecutors declined to comment on the details.
Beccuau said she would provide further details once the initial custody period had ended. Earlier this week, she said the pieces stolen from the Louvre were valued at €88mn, even if their cultural and historic value has been described as “inestimable”.
The arrests by police specialised in organised crime come a week after the shock heist exposed frailties in the security of the world’s largest museum, home to thousands of works of art.
Using a lift mounted on a parked van to reach a first-floor window, the thieves broke into the Galerie d’Apollon in broad daylight and cut through two display cases with angle grinders to steal eight pieces of jewellery worn by 19th century queens.
The ease with which the burglars broke into the museum and made their getaway has sparked recriminations in France and led the government to order a review of security arrangements at museums across France.
In a senate hearing on Wednesday, museum director Laurence des Cars acknowledged weaknesses in surveillance camera systems on the outside of the museum, which prevented the museum from noticing the parked van before the burglars made their entry.
As well as reinforcing outside surveillance, she suggested the installation of a permanent police presence within the Louvre, which already has an outpost for fire services, and greater security on the outskirts of the museum.
But in an interview with La Tribune Dimanche newspaper, interior minister Laurent Nunez rejected the suggestion, saying that the area is already well policed.
“As soon as there was an alert, police were there in three minutes. It wouldn’t have changed anything [to have a police station inside the Louvre],” he said.
He added that while he was confident the burglars would be found, he was “worried” about the pieces of jewellery, which could have already made their way out of France.
Read the full article here
