Louvre’s €88 Million Crown Jewels Were Stolen and the Thieves Caught

Paris has become the stage for one of the most daring robberies of the century — and, as the story unfolds, there may even be a Sri Lankan connection. French police have arrested two suspects in connection with the theft of royal jewels worth an estimated €88 million (about Rs. 31 billion) from the Louvre Museum. Among the missing treasures is said to be a rare sapphire believed to have originated from Sri Lanka.

The Heist at the Louvre

At about 9.30 a.m. on a quiet Sunday morning, four men arrived at the Louvre in a stolen furniture truck. Dressed in bright safety vests, they looked like maintenance workers. The truck carried an extendable lift, which the men used to reach the first-floor Apollo Gallery. Within minutes they had smashed a window, cut open two glass cases with power tools, and seized eight pieces of royal jewellery.

The operation lasted less than seven minutes. Two of the robbers worked inside while the others waited below with motorbikes for a rapid escape. In their haste, they even dropped a diamond-and-emerald crown on the way out.

The Trail They Left Behind

When police arrived, the robbers had vanished, but they left behind a collection of tools — gloves, helmets, a blow-torch, angle grinders, walkie-talkies, and a high-visibility vest. Investigators lifted more than 150 DNA and fingerprint traces from the equipment. French detectives from the armed-robbery and serious-burglary unit began tracking the evidence immediately.

The Arrests

A week later, the case took a dramatic turn. Acting on surveillance and forensic evidence, police moved in on Saturday night. At about 10 p.m. at Charles de Gaulle Airport, officers detained a man in his thirties just as he was about to board a flight to Algeria. At almost the same time, another suspect of a similar age was arrested in the Paris suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis while preparing to travel to Mali. Both men were known to police and had prior convictions for robbery.

Officials confirmed that DNA traces from the abandoned tools matched the suspects’ profiles in police databases, providing the key breakthrough that led to the arrests. They are now being questioned on suspicion of organised theft and criminal conspiracy.

France Reacts

Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau confirmed the arrests but criticised early media leaks, warning that they could compromise the investigation. She said more than one hundred investigators remain on the case and that the priority is to recover the stolen jewels. Under French law, the suspects can be held for up to 96 hours before being charged.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez congratulated the investigators but expressed concern that the jewels might already have been broken up and sold abroad. He noted that organised crime networks often melt the gold and platinum settings and sell the gemstones separately.

The Missing Sapphire

Among the missing pieces is believed to be a large Ceylon sapphire that once formed part of a French royal crown. Historians trace it back to gemstones exported from Sri Lanka during the early nineteenth century, when Napoleon I and his family acquired jewels from around the world. If confirmed, the theft would mark the disappearance of one of Sri Lanka’s most historically significant sapphires.

Security Questions at the Louvre

The Louvre’s director, Laurence des Cars, admitted to French senators that one of the museum’s exterior cameras was pointed in the wrong direction and failed to capture the thieves’ entry point. She defended the museum’s €80 million security programme and promised a full upgrade of video coverage across the site.

From Ratnapura to Paris

For Sri Lankans, the story has a familiar shimmer. A gem once mined in Ratnapura, cut in Europe, and placed in a royal crown now features in one of the world’s most talked-about heists. French police believe the network behind the theft stretches across borders, and that recovering the jewels will take months.

The arrests have brought the first signs of hope, but until the missing pieces reappear, the legend of the “Louvre Heist” will continue to glitter — part crime story, part cautionary tale, and part reminder that even the brightest jewels can slip into the shadows.