Two men arrested over $100M Louvre Museum jewel heist as one suspect was busted at airport trying to flee country: report

Two men who allegedly stole $100 million worth of France’s crown jewels during a daring daytime heist at the Louvre Museum were arrested on Saturday night — as one suspect was captured trying to flee the country.One of the suspects, who has not been identified, was busted as he was boarding a flight bound for Algeria at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris newspaper Le Parisien reported.The men, from Seine-Saint-Denis, a suburb north of Paris, were detained by police as part of the investigation of “organized gang robbery” and “conspiracy to commit a crime.”Police were tipped off on Saturday about one of the suspects likely to be flying out of the country and heading to Algeria in North Africa.The second suspect was arrested shortly afterward in Paris.The alleged thieves are known by police for past robberies and are believed to have conducted the high-profile heist on commission, Le Parisien reported.Last week, the four-man crew dressed in yellow vests and motorcycle helmets as they broke into the famed French museum.Using a cherry picker, the thieves scaled the museum’s Apollo Gallery and broke into the glass displays using chain saws as horrified guests looked on.The speedy heist was completed in less than four minutes as the thieves slipped in and out, making off with eight pieces from France’s Crown Jewels, worth approximately $100 million.Looted jewelry included a sapphire diadem, necklace and single earring from a set linked to 19th-century Queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense.The hasty robbers descended back down using the same cherry picker before attempting to burn the bucket truck in the process of their escape, as they fled on two scooters parked nearby.Eight pieces from the collection were stolen in the heist, including a sapphire diadem, necklace and single earring from a set linked to 19th-century Queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense.Empress Eugénie’s diamond diadem and her large corsage-bow brooch — an imperial ensemble of rare cr...