STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Two people are in custody now, accused of robbing the Louvre Museum in Paris. Two others are still missing, and so are the jewels. So how did police at least partially crack this case? NPR's Eleanor Beardsley has been following a less-than-perfect crime. Eleanor, hi.
ELEANOR BEARDSLEY, BYLINE: Hi, Steve.
INSKEEP: OK. How did police track these guys down?
BEARDSLEY: Well, police tracked them down thanks to video footage - not from the Louvre's cameras, which were old - and some pointed in the wrong direction - but because of cameras in the streets of Paris and a neighboring community. Those cameras let police follow the motorcycle trail. The men sped away through the city along the Seine River, and then they peeled off onto a highway. And the second thing that allowed them to be caught was their own DNA. They left more than 150 DNA samples and fingerprints behind on all the things they left at the scene of the crime, such as - get this - a circular saw, a reflective vest, a motorcycle helmet, a gas canister, a glove and a walkie-talkie.
INSKEEP: Wow.
BEARDSLEY: So what's emerging here, Steve, is the image of bunglers who were so chaotic in their haste to escape, they left clues everywhere, and certainly not the professional jewel thieves police were originally seeking. I want you to listen to Magali Rapuzzi with the scientific police brigade speaking on French news channel BFM about how they were caught.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MAGALI RAPUZZI: (Speaking French).
BEARDSLEY: She says, "if an individual has already been arrested and his fingerprints and DNA are already in the database, it can go very quickly. In just a few hours, they can pull up a profile and identify the person."
And that's what they did. And local media is saying that these two men had been under surveillance since mid-week last week.
INSKEEP: Wow. So who are they?
BEARDSLEY: Well, the Paris prosecutor confirmed the arrests were made on Saturday evening. French media say one of the men was arrested at Charles de Gaulle airport as he was about to catch a flight to Algiers. He is Franco Algerian. The other is a French national. He was picked up in the Paris suburbs, in Aubervilliers. They're said to be in their 30s, and they were already known to the police. They're allegedly being held separately and grilled by investigators who hope to learn who the other two alleged accomplices were.
Remember, two men scaled a ladder on a moving truck parked by a wing of the Louvre, broke in, cut open the glass cases to steal the $100 million worth of royal jewels, and the other two were waiting for them on motorcycles on the street, where they sped away. The whole operation took less than seven minutes. So these men can be held for up to 96 hours before charges must be filed. That's four days, so until Wednesday evening.
INSKEEP: OK. So the questioning continues, but nobody knows where the jewels are, right?
BEARDSLEY: No. So far, no word about that. Experts say the thieves would probably try to get them out of the country to one of the big diamond and gem centers in the world, like Antwerp, Belgium, or Israel or India, to be recut. If it was a job that was ordered by some wealthy person, they would want to keep the jewels intact, so they'll be laying low for a while. But this pressure is not about to let up, and these jewels are very well-known. You know, all these pieces were made for one woman - Empress Eugenie, the wife of 19th-century Emperor Napoleon III. I spoke with author Petie Kladstrup, who's just written a book on the last empress of France. She says she was an icon, rebellious, a feminist, a powerful woman for her time, and those jewels were part of her aura. Here's Kladstrup talking about Empress Eugenie.
PETIE KLADSTRUP: She was consulted constantly by her husband. She ruled France alone three different times when he was out of the country. And in one of the more famous portraits, she is standing wearing the tiara with her hand resting on the crown.
BEARDSLEY: And, Steve, that is the famous gold eagle, 1,300-diamond and emerald crown the thieves dropped as they rushed to get away. And you can find that portrait of her online. It's fascinating.
INSKEEP: Eleanor, you're a jewel. Thank you so much.
BEARDSLEY: Thank you, Steve.
INSKEEP: That's NPR's Eleanor Beardsley in Paris. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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