French police have taken five additional people into custody, including a key suspect, in connection with this month’s robbery at the Louvre museum, the Paris prosecutor announced.
A large team of detectives has been searching for four robbers who used a truck equipped with a moving lift and cutting tools to break into a first-floor gallery at the museum on 19 October, escaping with jewellery valued at roughly €88 million, reports RTE.
The most recent arrests follow the charging of two suspects yesterday for theft and criminal conspiracy.
Authorities believe these two individuals were the ones who entered the gallery while two accomplices stood guard outside, reports RTE.
Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau confirmed that the five people taken into custody included the primary suspect, whose DNA was tied to the seven-minute operation. None of the stolen jewels have yet been recovered.
“We had him in our sights,” she said, reports RTE.
“As for the other individuals who are in police custody, they are people who may be able to provide us with information about the course of events,” she added, reports RTE.
She noted that it was “too early” to release further information about the suspects.
The arrests were made in the greater Paris area, particularly in Seine-Saint-Denis, a district just outside the capital, reports RTE.
Two suspects detained on Saturday were charged last night with theft and conspiracy after they “partially admitted to the charges”, according to prosecutors.
Both were remanded in pre-trial custody, reports RTE.
One of the accused is a 34-year-old Algerian resident of France, identified through DNA traces found on one of the scooters used during the escape.
The other is a 39-year-old unlicensed taxi driver from Aubervilliers, a suburb north of Paris, reports RTE.
Police records show both men have previous theft convictions.
The first suspect was caught while attempting to board a flight to Algeria at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, reports RTE.
The second man was arrested shortly after near his residence, and “there is no evidence to suggest that he was planning to go abroad,” the prosecutor said, reports RTE.
Last week, Ms Beccuau stated that investigators were examining “150 DNA samples, fingerprints and other traces.”
She explained that public and private surveillance footage had enabled officers to follow the movements of the robbers—some of whom wore balaclavas and high-visibility jackets during the daylight heist—through Paris and nearby areas, reports RTE.
Ms Beccuau said yesterday that while investigators were certain four people carried out the robbery, they had not excluded the possibility of a broader operation “involving a backer or individuals who may have been intended recipients.”
However, she emphasized that there was no sign of “any complicity within the museum,” reports RTE.
As they fled, the thieves dropped a diamond- and emerald-encrusted crown once owned by Empress Eugenie, the wife of Napoleon III.
According to the museum’s director, the crown was crushed as it was removed from its display case but can likely be restored, reports RTE.
The burglars nevertheless escaped with eight other pieces of jewellery.
Among the missing items are an emerald and diamond necklace gifted by Napoleon I to his wife, Empress Marie-Louise, and a diadem once belonging to Empress Eugenie, adorned with nearly 2,000 diamonds, reports RTE.
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