Four suspects have been arrested in connection with the theft of the French crown jewels from the Louvre Museum in Paris last month, USA Today reported.
Two men and two women between the ages of 31 and 40 were arrested on Tuesday and are being questioned, according to statements made by French prosecutors on Tuesday. All four suspects are from the area. There have been no charges or further details of the suspects’ possible roles in the heist.
These arrests follow four others who were arrested in connection to the heist last month, with one still believed to be at large. (It is unclear if one of the suspects arrested on Tuesday is considered the fifth missing suspect.) Of the four, one was a taxi driver and the other a delivery man and garbage collector, who was arrested at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport while trying to flee on a one-way flight to Algeria. The other two are a man and woman who have been identified as domestic partners with two children together; the woman was recently released from police custody and placed under judicial supervision on Wednesday. The thieves are reported to be locals of Seine-Saint-Denis, a suburb of Paris.
As the investigation into the heist continues, the public has been learning more about the identities of these individuals, including one who was identified earlier this month as Abdoulaye N. and another whose cousin spoke out about the theft.
On Sunday, October 19, around 9:30 a.m., robbers broke into the Parisian museum‘s Apollo Gallery using a cherry picker and an angle grinder to steal nine pieces of jewelry worth an estimated $102 million in less than eight minutes. CCTV footage captured the thieves descending from a gallery window before fleeing the area on scooters. One of the nine pieces, a crown once belonging to Empress Eugénie, was subsequently recovered outside the Louvre and is expected to undergo conservation efforts.
In a hearing with the French senate, Louvre Museum director Laurence des Cars said that alarms functioned properly and went off during the heist. But she admitted that the museum has “very inadequate” and “outdated” security systems in place.
Though the Louvre recently rolled out a set of emergency security measures, the full extent of the recommended security changes, according to a French national audit, are “not expected to be finished until 2032.” However, some 100 surveillance cameras and anti-intrusion systems are set to be installed at the museum as part of increased security measures.
The missing jewels are listed in Interpol’s Stolen Works of Art database, but the search continues as they have yet to be recovered by authorities in light of these arrests.
