In under four minutes, the robbers sawed through display glass and made off with eight pieces valued at $102 million.

By Jewish Breaking News

French authorities have arrested two men suspected of stealing more than $100 million in crown jewels from the Louvre Museum during a daring daytime robbery that stunned the nation.

According to Le Parisien, both men in their thirties from Seine-Saint-Denis were already known to police for prior robberies.

One of the suspects was captured at Charles de Gaulle Airport as he attempted to board a flight to Algeria.

The stunning theft took place on October 19, when a four-man crew disguised in yellow vests and motorcycle helmets used a cherry picker to reach the Louvre’s Apollo Gallery, home to France’s historic Crown Jewels.

In under four minutes, the robbers sawed through display glass and made off with eight pieces valued at $102 million, including a sapphire diadem, necklace, and earring once linked to 19th-century queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense.

Visitors watched in disbelief as alarms rang and the thieves sped away on motorbikes, abandoning and burning their equipment nearby.

A corsage-bow brooch of Empress Eugénie, whose emerald crown, set with more than 1,300 diamonds, was later found damaged but recoverable outside the museum.

Prosecutor Laure Beccuau said the suspects were caught through “means of public and private security cameras” but declined to give further information, warning that leaked details could jeopardize the ongoing investigation.

“This disclosure can only hinder the efforts of the roughly 100 investigators mobilized both to recover the stolen jewels and to identify all those involved. It is too early to share specific details,” she said.

Investigators believe the high-profile heist was carried out on commission, possibly for an international buyer.

Their coordinated timing and precision have led officials to suspect an inside job, with one museum employee reportedly under review.

Police say the investigation is ongoing as authorities work to locate the missing jewels and the accomplices still at large.

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All four thieves bolted through a service stairwell and escaped on two motorbikes positioned on the Quai du Louvre.

By Jewish Breaking News

The world’s largest museum became the scene of a dramatic heist on Sunday, as armed thieves looted the Louvre’s gallery of imperial jewels.

French authorities say four masked men dressed as construction workers scaled the Seine-facing wing of the Louvre Museum around 9:30 a.m., using a hydraulic lift to reach a second-floor window of the Galerie d’Apollon.

During the reported four- to seven-minute heist, two of the thieves used heavy-duty angle grinders to cut open museum cases designed to withstand small-arms fire, while their partners blocked the corridor to delay response teams.

All four then bolted through a service stairwell and escaped on two motorbikes positioned on the Quai du Louvre, vanishing into Paris’s Left Bank along with at least eight jewels linked to the Napoleonic dynasty.

“They knew exactly what they were doing,” a police source told Le Monde. “It was surgical—professional work.”

Among the missing artifacts, according to France’s Culture Ministry, are some of the most valuable pieces ever crafted for Europe’s royal courts—including an emerald-and-diamond necklace set among more than 1,000 stones gifted by Napoleon to his second wife, Marie-Louise of Austria, in 1810.

The ornate set, created by jeweler François-Régnault Nitot, contains 32 emeralds and 1,138 diamonds and had been acquired by the Louvre in 2004 for €3.7 million.

Other stolen items include a diamond bow brooch and diadem of Empress Eugénie, the last French empress and wife of Napoleon III, and her diamond-studded reliquary brooch crafted in 1855 by Paul-Alfred Bapst, containing the 17th-century Mazarin diamonds once gifted to King Louis XIV.

Also missing is a sapphire diadem and necklace once worn by Queen Marie-Amélie and Queen Hortense, containing 24 Ceylon sapphires and over 1,000 diamonds that can be detached and worn as brooches.

One relic, Empress Eugénie’s gold crown set with 1,354 diamonds and 56 emeralds, was recovered outside the museum.

It was damaged but reported intact by French officials who believe the thieves dropped it during their escape and called the loss “incalculable.”

Empress Eugénie’s crown was one of two royal jewels recovered near the Louvre following the theft.

President Emmanuel Macron vowed the culprits would be caught, saying the jewels “belong not only to France but to humanity’s shared history.”

Meanwhile, the Louvre remains closed for forensic work as the investigation and the hunt for the perpetrators continue.

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French authorities are investigating an incident in which an Egyptian terrorist attacked French soldiers at the Louvre. 

The Louvre Museum reopened to the public Saturday, less than 24 hours after a machete-wielding terrorist shouting “Allahu akbar!” attacked French soldiers guarding the sprawling building and was then shot.

Allahu Akbar — Arabic for “God is greater” — is a phrase often used by Muslim terrorists during attacks.

International tourists coming to the museum filed by armed police and soldiers patrolling outside the site, which had been closed immediately after Friday’s attack.

The terrorist was shot four times after slightly injuring a soldier patrolling the nearby underground mall, but his injuries on Saturday were no longer life-threatening, the Paris prosecutor’s office said.

French President Francois Hollande said there was “no doubt” it was a terror attack and that the assailant will be questioned as soon as  possible.

An Egyptian Interior Ministry official confirmed to The Associated Press on Saturday that the terrorist is Egyptian-born Abdullah Reda Refaie al-Hamahmy, 28.

The official said an initial investigation in Egypt found no record of political activism, criminal activity or membership in any terror group by him.

The suspect was believed to have been living in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and came to Paris on January 26 on a tourist visa, prosecutor Francois Molins said. The suspect bought two military machetes at a gun store in Paris and paid 1,700 euros ($1,834) for a one-week stay at a Paris apartment in the chic 8th arrondissement, near the Champs-Elysees Avenue.

Family Denies Son is a Terrorist

On the Twitter account of an “Abdallah El-Hamahmy,” a tweet was posted about a trip from Dubai to Paris on Jan. 26. In the profile photo, Hamahmy is seen smiling and leaning against a wall in a blue-and-white sports jacket.

In another tweet in Arabic written shortly before the Louvre attack, Hamahmy posted an angry tirade: “No negotiation, no compromise, no letting up, certainly no climb down, relentless war.”

In an interview Saturday on the Dubai-based news channel al-Hadath, Hamahmy’s father, Reda Refae al-Hamahmy, said he was shocked to learn of his son’s alleged involvement in the latest Paris attack and denied that he was a radical or belonged to any militant groups.

“All I want is to know the truth and find out whether he is dead or alive,” the father said.

“This is all a scenario made up by the French government to justify the soldiers opening fire,” he added. “He is a very normal young man.”

The father said Hamahmy is married with a 7-month-old child and told them he intended to tour the sights in Paris before leaving France. He sent his father a photo of himself with the Eiffel Tower in the background shortly before the clash at the Louvre.

Hamahmy’s brother Ahmed, who works at the Health Ministry in Dubai, was interrogated for several hours by security officials in the UAE, the father said. In Egypt, several domestic security agency officers visited the family home in the Nile Delta on Friday night to question family members.

UAE  Condemns the Attack

The United Arab Emirates condemned the attack at the Louvre but UAE officials offered no comment Saturday about the suspect’s possible connection to the country.

The UAE, which includes the Mideast commercial hub of Dubai, is a major destination for guest workers from Egypt and other countries. Foreign residents outnumber native Emiratis roughly four to one.

“The UAE, while strongly condemning this hideous crime, affirms its full solidarity with the friendly French Republic in these circumstances and its support for whatever measures France may take to preserve its security and safety of its citizens and residents,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said.

France is working with the Emirates to build a branch of the Louvre in the federal capital, Abu Dhabi. The project has been repeatedly delayed and is now expected to open later this year.

By: AP

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