Arrests made in crown jewelry heist at Paris’ Louvre museum, prosecutor says

Several people were arrested in connection with this theft of the crown jewels from the Louvre in Paris, a Parisian prosecutor said on Sunday, a week after brazen robbery in the most visited museum in the world.

The prosecutor said investigators made the arrests on Saturday evening, adding that one of the detained men was planning to leave the country from Paris Roissy airport.

French media BFM TV and Le Parisien newspaper previously reported that two suspects were arrested and taken into custody. Paris prosecutor Laura Becquo would not confirm the number of arrests or say whether the jewelry had been recovered.

The thieves took less eight minutes to steal the jewels estimated at $102 million last Sunday morning.

Questions have been raised about security at the museum and whether CCTV cameras may have been damaged when thieves lifted a basket, lifted the front of the Louvre, broke through a window, smashed display cases and made off with priceless Napoleonic jewels. The museum's director called the incident a “terrible failure.”

Becquau said the arrests were made by investigators from the police special unit that deals with armed robberies, serious burglaries and art thefts. In a statement, she regretted the premature leak of information, saying it could interfere with the work of more than 100 investigators “mobilized to recover the stolen jewelry and apprehend all criminals.” Beccuo said further details would be revealed once the suspects' detention had ended.

French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez praised “the investigators who worked tirelessly, as I asked them to, and in whom I have always trusted.”

The theft was concentrated in the gilded gallery of Apollo, where the crown diamonds are displayed. Eight objects According to officials, the items stolen were: a sapphire tiara, necklace and a single earring from a matching set associated with 19th-century French queens Marie-Amelie and Hortense; emerald necklace and earrings from the matching set of Empress Marie-Louise, second wife of Napoleon Bonaparte; reliquary brooch; and the tiara of Empress Eugenie and her large brooch-corsage-bow – a valuable imperial ensemble of the 19th century.

One piece, Eugénie's imperial crown, adorned with emeralds and more than 1,300 diamonds, was later found near the museum, damaged but repairable.

The crown jewels are historically priceless, but experts told CBS News they would still be worth millions of dollars if broken up and sold on the black market.

Jewelry were not privately insuredThis was announced by the French Ministry of Culture in a press release in the daily newspaper Le Parisien. French law prohibits institutions such as the Louvre from insuring their property unless part of the collection is moved or loaned to another institution, Romain Deschelettes, president of France's Serex Assurances, a fine art insurer, told CBS News.

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