Small-time criminals are believed to be behind the spectacular jewel heist at the Louvre, the top Paris prosecutor said Sunday, adding that two of the suspects are a couple with children.

Last month, a four-man gang raided the Louvre, the world's most-visited art museum, in broad daylight, taking just seven minutes to steal jewellery worth an estimated $102 million before fleeing on high-powered scooters.

The men parked a truck with an extendable ladder below the museum's Apollo Gallery which housed the French crown jewels, clambered up, broke a window and used angle grinders to cut into glass display booths containing the treasures.

Two men suspected of being the pair who broke into the gallery while their two accomplices waited outside have been detained, charged and remanded in custo

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