By THOMAS ADAMSON and ANGELA CHARLTON Associated Press
PARIS (AP) — Five more people were arrested overnight in the Louvre crown-jewels heist — including a man identified by DNA as one of the suspected robbers — the Paris prosecutor said Thursday, signaling an accelerating dragnet across the French capital and its suburbs.
The separate, late-night operations in Paris and nearby Seine-Saint-Denis bring the total arrests to seven. The prosecutor, Laure Beccuau, told RTL radio that one of the detainees is suspected of being part of the four-person team that robbed the Louvre’s Apollo Gallery in broad daylight on Oct. 19.
She said the DNA-linked suspect was “one of the objectives of the investigators — we had him in our sights.” Others taken into custody, she said, “may be able to inform us about how the events unfolded,” but she did not release their identities or other details.
Beccuau said the latest arrests still did not help uncover the loot, which includes a diamond-and-emerald necklace that Napoleon Bonaparte gave to Empress Marie Louise as a wedding gift. The stolen pieces — valued at $102 million — also comprise crown jewels tied to 19th-century Queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense, and Empress Eugénie’s pearl-and-diamond tiara.
French police have acknowledged major gaps in the Louvre’s defenses, turning the dazzling daylight theft into a national reckoning over how France protects its treasures. The Paris police chief said that the first alert to police came not from the Louvre’s security systems but from a cyclist outside who dialed the emergency line after seeing helmeted men with a basket lift.
Two earlier suspects, men aged 34 and 39 from Aubervilliers, north of Paris, were charged Wednesday with theft by an organized gang and criminal conspiracy after nearly 96 hours in custody. Beccuau said both gave “minimalist” statements and “partially admitted” their involvement.
One was stopped at Charles-de-Gaulle Airport with a one-way ticket to Algeria; his DNA matched a scooter used in the getaway. For now, she said, there is no evidence of insider help among Louvre staff, though investigators are not ruling out a wider network beyond the four seen on security footage.
That footage shows at least four thieves forcing a window into the Apollo Gallery in broad daylight, cutting open display cases with power tools and fleeing on two scooters toward eastern Paris. Investigators say the crew arrived in a truck equipped with a freight lift that allowed two men to reach the window.
After less than four minutes inside, the crew pried open two display cases and made off with eight pieces of priceless jewelry before alarms sounded.
Beccuau renewed her appeal to those holding the items: “These jewels are now, of course, unsellable … Anyone who buys them would be guilty of concealment of stolen goods. There’s still time to give them back.”
Information about investigations is meant to be secret under French law to avoid compromising police work and to ensure victims’ right to privacy. Only the prosecutor can speak publicly about developments, and violators can be prosecuted. Police and investigators are not supposed to divulge information about arrests or suspects without the prosecutor’s approval, though in high-profile cases, police union officials have leaked partial details.
The daylight smash-and-grab inside the world’s most-visited museum shocked the heritage world. Four men, a lift truck and a stopwatch turned the Apollo Gallery’s blaze of gold and light into a crime scene — while Empress Eugénie’s damaged but salvageable crown, dropped in the escape, became the theft’s lone survivor.