France arrests final suspect in $102M Louvre jewel heist

PARIS (MNTV) — French authorities have arrested the man believed to be the final suspect in the spectacular $102 million robbery at the Louvre Museum, the Paris public prosecutor’s office said Tuesday.

The arrest was made early Tuesday by the Paris anti-gang brigade under a warrant issued by investigating judges, according to French outlet Le Parisien.

The suspect — who is already known to police — is suspected of working directly with three men previously charged and detained over the Oct. 19 heist. All four individuals are either originally from, or currently living in, the Paris suburb of Aubervilliers.

He was taken to Paris police headquarters, where he is being questioned on charges of “organized robbery” and “criminal conspiracy.”

In coordinated operations across the Paris region, police also detained four other people from the suspect’s wider circle: two men, aged 38 and 39, and two women, aged 31 and 40. Prosecutors said they may have helped facilitate parts of the heist or the suspects’ escape.

Investigators are still searching for the stolen jewels and trying to determine whether additional figures — including potential financiers or planners — were involved.

The thieves carried out the robbery in broad daylight on Oct. 19. Using a stolen truck, they parked outside the Louvre, deployed a furniture lift to the museum’s first floor, and smashed into one of its most ornate rooms. Within minutes, they escaped on scooters with royal jewels, including an emerald-and-diamond necklace gifted by Napoleon Bonaparte to his second wife, Marie-Louise of Austria, and a diadem once worn by Empress Eugenie, wife of Napoleon III.