Five new suspects arrested over Louvre robbery, French radio reports | Paris
Five new suspects have been arrested in connection with the Louvre robbery in Paris, where thieves stole an estimated €88 million (£76 million) worth of crown jewels, French media reported.
The arrests were made in connection with the robbery, which was the most spectacular robbery in France in decades, RTL radio said on Thursday, citing judicial sources. BFMTV had previously reported that a new suspect had been arrested.
RTL said the arrests were made overnight at properties in the Paris area. The reports have not yet been officially confirmed and there has been no indication whether the jewels have been found.
Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said at a news conference on Wednesday evening that the two men arrested on Sunday had “partially admitted” their roles, but the jewels were still missing.
Beccuau said that the two suspects will be brought before the judge on charges of “organized theft, which carries a 15-year prison sentence, and conspiracy, which carries a 10-year prison sentence.”
Hours before the couple were to be charged or released, he said the jewels were “not in our possession”. But he made a clarion call to thieves, adding: “There’s still time to give them back.”
The four-man gang stopped in front of the world’s most visited museum at around 9.30am on October 19 in a stolen furniture transport truck with an extendable ladder and elevator, where the two climbed into the ornate Apollo gallery on the first floor.
Wearing high-vis vests to resemble maintenance workers, they broke an unsecured window and sliced open two glass display cases using disc cutters before climbing down onto a bucket lift and escaping on motorbikes driven by two other men.
The robbery lasted less than seven minutes, with the two men who entered the gallery spending three minutes and 58 seconds inside. They dropped a diamond and emerald encrusted tiara but escaped with eight richly jeweled pieces.
Among the stolen jewels were an emerald and diamond necklace that Napoleon I gave to his second wife, Marie Louise, and an emerald and diamond necklace that once belonged to Napoleon III. There was also a crown set consisting of 212 pearls and nearly 2,000 diamonds that belonged to Napoleon’s wife, Empress Eugénie.
Beccuau said two suspects, one of whom was arrested Saturday night at Charles de Gaulle airport outside Paris while trying to catch a flight to Algiers, were believed to be the men who broke into the Apollo gallery.
Their DNA was found in a display case and on a scooter used in the escape, the prosecutor said. He added that it was possible the gang numbered more than four, but so far there was no indication it had inside help.
