The investigation into the daring Louvre crown jewels heist has intensified, with five additional arrests overnight — including a man whose DNA links him directly to the robbery, Paris prosecutors announced Thursday.
The latest arrests, carried out in Paris and the nearby Seine-Saint-Denis suburbs, bring the total number of suspects in custody to seven. Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau confirmed that one of those detained is believed to be part of the four-person crew that carried out the daylight robbery inside the Louvre’s Apollo Gallery on October 19.
“He was one of the objectives of the investigators — we had him in our sights,” Beccuau told RTL Radio, adding that the others arrested could help uncover more about the planning and execution of the theft. However, she said, the stolen jewels — worth an estimated $102 million — remain missing.
The loot includes historic treasures such as a diamond-and-emerald necklace gifted by Napoleon Bonaparte to Empress Marie Louise, a pearl-and-diamond tiara belonging to Empress Eugénie, and jewelry tied to Queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense from the 19th century.
French police have faced harsh criticism over security lapses at the Louvre, after it was revealed that the first alert came not from museum systems but from a cyclist who spotted helmeted men using a basket lift outside the museum.
Two men, aged 34 and 39 from Aubervilliers, were charged earlier this week with theft by an organized gang and criminal conspiracy after nearly 96 hours of questioning. One of them was detained at Charles-de-Gaulle Airport with a one-way ticket to Algeria; his DNA was later matched to a getaway scooter used in the heist. Both men gave what Beccuau described as “minimalist” statements and only “partially admitted” their involvement.
Surveillance footage shows four masked thieves breaking into the Apollo Gallery in broad daylight, using power tools to cut open display cases. Within just four minutes, they escaped with eight pieces of royal jewelry, fleeing on two scooters toward eastern Paris. Investigators believe they arrived in a truck equipped with a lift, enabling two men to reach the gallery’s window.
Authorities say there’s no current evidence of inside help from Louvre staff, but they are not ruling out a wider criminal network.
Beccuau renewed her plea for the recovery of the jewels:
“These jewels are now unsellable. Anyone who buys them would be guilty of concealment of stolen goods. There’s still time to give them back.”
The Louvre heist, described as one of the boldest art crimes in decades, has left France’s cultural institutions on high alert. The only piece recovered so far — Empress Eugénie’s damaged crown, dropped during the robbers’ escape — remains a haunting symbol of what was lost inside the world’s most-visited museum.