A French prosecutor says small-time criminals are believed to be behind a jewel heist at the Louvre last month.

A four-strong gang raided the world's most-visited art museum in broad daylight, taking just seven minutes to steal jewellery worth an estimated $150 million before fleeing on scooters.

The thieves parked a truck with an extendable ladder below the museum's Apollo Gallery, 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 custody.

Prosecutors said on Saturday that two more suspects — a man and a woman — had also been charged and remanded in custody.

Authorities are y

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