(MENAFN) French authorities have detained two men suspected of involvement in the theft of crown jewels valued at approximately €88 million ($102 million) from the Louvre Museum in Paris, according to reports.

The Paris prosecutor’s office confirmed that one suspect was apprehended at Charles de Gaulle Airport while attempting to board a flight abroad. Police sources indicated that the man was preparing to travel to Algeria, while the second suspect was reportedly planning a trip to Mali.

Both individuals were taken into custody on Saturday evening, and investigators can detain them for up to 96 hours for questioning. The prosecutor’s office criticized the early release of case details, saying it hampered efforts to locate the missing jewels and the remaining suspects.

The daring heist took place last Sunday when four masked robbers used power tools to break into the museum’s Galerie d’Apollon (Gallery of Apollo) in broad daylight, shortly after the Louvre opened at 9:30 a.m. local time.

Reports say the thieves used a vehicle-mounted lift to access a first-floor balcony overlooking the River Seine. After cutting through a window, two of them entered the gallery, threatened guards, and shattered the glass of two display cases containing the jewels. The entire operation lasted just four minutes, with the gang escaping on two scooters waiting outside at 9:38 a.m.

A preliminary investigation revealed serious lapses in museum security. Roughly one-third of the rooms in the raided section lacked CCTV coverage, and the only external camera monitoring the area was reportedly pointing away from the balcony used in the break-in.

Louvre Director Laurence des Cars told French senators that the museum’s perimeter surveillance was “weak and aging,” preventing staff from spotting the thieves in time.

France’s justice minister acknowledged that security procedures “failed,” calling the incident “a terrible image for our country.”

Experts have warned that recovering the jewels may prove nearly impossible if the thieves have already melted the gold and silver or cut the gems into smaller, untraceable pieces.

In response, France has tightened security across its cultural institutions. The Louvre has also transferred several of its most valuable jewels to the Bank of France, where they are now kept in high-security vaults located 26 meters (85 feet) underground at the bank’s Paris headquarters.

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