2 held near Paris for Louvre jewel heist

Two suspects were arrested over the brazen jewellery heist at the Louvre, just as one of them was about to fly out of France, the Paris prosecutor said on Sunday.

Two men in their 30s and originally from the capital’s Seine-Saint-Denis suburb — which includes some of the country’s most deprived areas — were detained on Saturday evening, according to Le Parisien newspaper, which first broke the story. They were known to French police and one of the suspects was about to fly to Algeria from the Charles de Gaulle airport.

There was no indication on Sunday that any of France’s stolen crown jewels had been recovered. Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau did not say how many people were arrested or give any more details about them. In a statement, she deplored the fact that information about their arrest was leaked. “This revelation can only hinder the investigative efforts of the 100 or so mobilised investigators, both in the search for the stolen jewellery and for all the perpetrators. It is too early to provide any specific details,” Beccuau said.

Interior Minister Laurent Nune congratulated investigators in a tweet.