PARIS: Jewels stolen from the Louvre museum in a brazen heist have not yet been found, the Paris prosecutor said on Wednesday, adding that two suspects arrested on the weekend had partially recognized their involvement in the robbery.
Four hooded thieves made off with the jewels after breaking into the Louvre on the morning of October 19, exposing security lapses at the world’s most-visited museum.
The two detained men, both in their thirties and with criminal records, were arrested on Saturday. One of them was attempting to board a flight to Algeria.
There was no evidence to suggest at this point that the robbery was an inside job, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau told a news conference.
“I want to remain hopeful that [the jewels] will be found and they can be brought back to the Louvre, and more broadly to the nation,” Beccuau said. The thieves stole eight precious pieces worth an estimated $102 million from the Louvre’s collection on October 19, exposing security lapses as they broke into the world’s most-visited museum using a crane to smash an upstairs window during opening hours. They escaped on motorbikes.
The museum’s cameras failed to detect the intruders in time to prevent the robbery, which took between six to seven minutes and was carried out by four people who were unarmed, but who threatened the guards with angle grinders.
Security shortcomings at the Louvre forced the museum to transfer some of its most precious jewels to the Bank of France under secret police escort, according to French radio RTL.
News of the robbery reverberated around the world, prompting soul-searching in France over what some viewed as a national humiliation.
Stolen Louvre jewels not yet recovered, prosecutor says
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Stolen Louvre jewels not yet recovered, prosecutor says
- “I want to remain hopeful that [the jewels] will be found and they can be brought back to the Louvre,” Beccuau said
- The museum’s cameras failed to detect the intruders in time to prevent the robbery
Lawsuit challenges Trump administration’s ending of protections for Somalis
- The lawsuit cites a series of statements Trump has made describing Somalis as “garbage” and “low IQ people” who “contribute nothing.”
BOSTON: Immigrant rights advocates filed a lawsuit on Monday seeking to stop US President Donald Trump’s administration from next week ending legal protections that allow nearly 1,100 Somalis to live and work in the United States. The lawsuit, brought by four Somalis and two advocacy groups, challenges the US Department of Homeland Security’s decision to end Temporary Protected Status for Somali immigrants, whom Trump has derided in public remarks. Outgoing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in January announced that TPS for Somalis would end on March 17, arguing that Somalia’s conditions had improved, despite fighting continuing between Somali forces and Al-Shabab militants. The plaintiffs, who include the groups African Communities Together and Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans, in the lawsuit filed in Boston federal court argue the move was procedurally flawed and driven by a discriminatory, predetermined agenda.
The lawsuit cites a series of statements Trump has made describing Somalis as “garbage” and “low IQ people” who “contribute nothing.”
The plaintiffs said the administration is ending TPS for Somalia and other countries due to unconstitutional bias against non-white immigrants, not based on objective assessments of country conditions.
“The termination of TPS for Somalia is racism masking as immigration policy,” Omar Farah, executive director at the legal group Muslim Advocates, said in a statement.
DHS did not respond to a request for comment. It has previously said TPS was “never intended to be a de facto amnesty program.”
TPS is a form of humanitarian immigration protection that shields eligible migrants from deportation and allows them to work. Under Noem, DHS has moved to end TPS for a dozen countries, sparking legal challenges. The administration on Saturday announced plans to pursue an appeal at the US Supreme Court in order to end TPS for over 350,000 Haitians. It also wants the high court to allow it to end TPS for about 6,000 Syrians.
SOMALI COMMUNITY TARGETED
Somalia was first designated for TPS in 1991, with its latest extension in 2024. About 1,082 Somalis currently hold TPS, and 1,383 more have pending applications, according to DHS. Somalis in Minnesota in recent months had become a target of Trump’s immigration crackdown, with officials pointing to a fraud scandal in which many people charged come from the state’s large Somali community. The Trump administration cited those fraud allegations as a basis for a months-long immigration enforcement surge in Democratic-led Minnesota, during which about 3,000 immigration agents were deployed, spurring protests and leading to the killing of two US citizens by federal agents.
In November, Trump announced he would end TPS for Somalis in Minnesota, and a month later said he wanted them sent “back to where they came from.”
The US Department of State advises against traveling to Somalia, citing crime and civil unrest among numerous factors.
