PARIS, FRANCE — French authorities have arrested four more people linked to last month’s dramatic theft of €88 million (£77m) in crown jewels from the Louvre, the Paris prosecutor’s office announced.
The latest arrests include two men, aged 38 and 39, and two women, aged 31 and 40, all from the Paris region. According to French media, one of the men is believed to be the last remaining alleged member of the four-person gang who carried out the heist on 19 October.
Police sources told Le Parisien that the suspect has a criminal record and is connected to three gang members previously arrested, all with ties to the Paris suburb of Aubervilliers. He now faces charges of organized theft and criminal conspiracy.
The theft involved the gang parking a stolen truck outside the museum, using an extendable ladder and freight lift to access the Apollo gallery’s first-floor window. In less than seven minutes, two members smashed an unsecured window and two glass display cases, while two others fled on motorbikes.
The gang made off with eight high-value pieces, including an emerald and diamond necklace gifted by Napoleon Bonaparte to his second wife, Marie Louise, and a tiara set with 212 pearls and nearly 2,000 diamonds that once belonged to Napoleon III’s wife. None of the jewels have been recovered.
DNA left at the scene on gloves, a hi-vis vest, and disc cutters led to the arrests of Ayed G and Abdoulaye N, suspected of entering the museum. Slimane K, believed to have driven one of the scooters, was detained days later. One of Tuesday’s arrestees is thought to be the second scooter driver. A fifth suspect accused of aiding the gang has also been charged.
France’s state auditor described the theft as a “deafening wake-up call” highlighting “wholly inadequate security upgrades” at the world’s most visited museum. The Louvre’s management has accepted most of the auditor’s conclusions, acknowledging a “chronic, structural underestimation of the risk of intrusion and theft.”
