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Police in Paris have reportedly detained ten people suspected of running a massive ticket fraud scheme at the Louvre museum.
Some of the suspects detained are said to include museum staff and tourist guides who targeted Chinese visitors as part of the scam which allegedly involved selling fake entry passes and overbooking guided tours.
According to the French newspaper Le Parisien, police detained the suspects on Tuesday after being Louvre authorities reported “irregularities”.
Three vehicles were also seized, along with €130,000 in cash, nearly €200,000 in bank accounts, and several bank safes containing large sums of cash.
In a statement, the museum’s management said it has now “put in place a structured anti-fraud plan based on fraud mapping, a range of preventive and curative measures (legal, technical and control) and monitoring of the results.
Industrial action
The arrests following a string of alarming headlines for the world’s most popular museum and one of France’s most revered and respected institutions.
Since last month, strike action by staff unhappy over pay and working conditions has forced the Louvre to partially close each week to visitors.
The action began late last year after a damaging government report on security flaws exposed by the daring daylight robbery of France’s Crown Jewels in October.
In addition, the Louvre attracted widespread criticism after hiking admission prices for non-European visitors in an effort to boost its finances to fund extensive renovations.
The museum said the 45% price hike to 32 euros from 22 euros is part of a national “differentiated pricing” policy that’s being enacted by several major cultural sites, including the Versailles Palace, the Paris Opera and the Sainte-Chapelle.
Additional sources • AP