
French authorities have arrested four more people in connection with the spectacular October 19 robbery that took crown jewels worth an estimated 88 million euros from the Louvre museum. The arrests include two men aged 38 and 39 and two women aged 31 and 40 from the Paris region, including the last suspected member of the four-member gang.
According to The Guardian, Le Parisien reports that the main suspect – with a criminal record and linked to three previous arrests – was caught by the anti-gang unit and is facing charges of organized theft and criminal conspiracy.
The robbers used a stolen truck, an extendable ladder and a freight elevator to enter the Apollo Gallery. They broke a window and two display cases, and fled on motorbikes in an operation that lasted less than 7 minutes.
Eight precious objects were stolen, including an emerald and diamond necklace given by Napoleon to his wife Marie Louise, as well as a tiara with 212 pearls and nearly 2,000 diamonds. None of them have ever been recovered.
DNA analysis on items left at the scene led to the first arrests, while a fifth suspect is accused of aiding the gang, The Guardian writes.
French state auditors have called the robbery a "deafening alarm" about the lack of security at the world's most visited museum. The museum has accepted "most" of the criticism for structural weaknesses in its security system.