French authorities have arrested five additional suspects in connection with the high-profile theft of crown jewels from the Louvre, Paris prosecutors said. The group was detained late on Wednesday in the Paris region; prosecutors said one of those taken into custody is a main suspect and DNA from one of the detainees may be linked to the crime scene.
Prosecutor Laure Beccuau said investigators are still determining the roles played by the newly arrested individuals, who “may eventually inform us about how the incident took place.” French officials have previously warned the operation could have involved more people than the four who physically carried out the gallery break-in shown on CCTV. The new suspects can be held for up to four days before being charged or released.
The theft took place on 19 October when four men entered the Louvre’s Galerie d’Apollon soon after the museum opened. Using a vehicle-mounted mechanical lift to reach a balcony near the Seine, the thieves used a disc cutter to force open display cases and remove several pieces of jewellery. They were inside for about four minutes and fled on scooters at 09:38 before transferring to cars and driving east. No one was reported threatened during the incident.
Items valued at about €88m (£76m; $102m) remain missing, including the Marie-Louise necklace, a pair of earrings and a diamond- and pearl-encrusted tiara once worn by Empress Eugénie.
Two men in their thirties with criminal records were arrested earlier and are believed to be the pair who used power tools to enter the gallery. Authorities said one of those men was stopped as he attempted to board a one-way flight to Algeria; the other was not planning to leave France. Investigators say there is currently no evidence the theft was an inside job and no museum staff have been implicated.
In response to the robbery, security around France’s cultural institutions has been strengthened. The Louvre has moved some of its most precious jewels to the Bank of France for safekeeping; they are now stored in the bank’s most secure vault, 26 metres below ground in its central Paris headquarters. Investigations continue as police seek the fourth gallery intruder and try to recover the stolen pieces.
