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Four more people have been arrested in connection with last month’s audacious jewellery heist at the Louvre, the Paris prosecutor’s office said on Tuesday.
The two men and two women in custody are from the Paris region and range in age from 31 to 40, said the prosecutor, Laure Beccuau, whose office is heading the investigation.
The office did not say what role they are suspected of having played in the theft at the Paris landmark and world-famous museum on 19 October.
According to Le Parisien newspaper, one of the men arrested was a member of the four-man team thought to have carried out the daring robbery.
Investigating magistrates previously filed preliminary charges against three men and one woman who were arrested in October for their alleged involvement in the heist.
On the day of the heist, it took thieves less than eight minutes to force their way through a window into the Louvre’s Apollo Gallery with the help of a basket lift and steal the trove of jewels worth €88 million.
The haul included a sapphire diadem, necklace and an earring from a set linked to 19th-century queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense. None of the loot has been recovered.
The daytime theft of centuries-old jewels of significant cultural and monetary value has captured the world’s attention for its audacity and movie plot-like details.
Last week, the head of the Louvre said that the museum would soon install new surveillance cameras and anti-intrusion systems.
Around 100 cameras will be operational by the end of 2026 while anti-intrusion systems will start to be put in place within weeks, said museum director Laurence des Cars.
That announcement came after French senators criticised the Louvre’s security and called for improved measures in the wake of the heist.
Additional sources • AP