A manhunt for those responsible for an audacious heist of priceless crown jewels from Paris’ world-famous Louvre museum took a step forward after authorities made five additional arrests, with one of the suspects allegedly a match for DNA traces recovered from the scene. File photo by Mohammed Badra/EPA
Oct. 30 (UPI) — Police in France arrested five new suspects over alleged involvement in theft of priceless French crown jewels from the Louvre in the French capital, Paris’ chief prosecutor said.
The office of Paris Prosecutor Laure Beccuau said the men were detained in and around Paris on Wednesday night but that the jewels, which some estimates have valued at more than $100 million, were not recovered.
The development came 10 days after four suspects were filmed on CCTV carrying out the heist in broad daylight using a lift-ladder mounted on the back of a stolen truck to break into the museum’s Apollon Gallery, before disappearing into the back streets on the back of getaway motorcycles.
Beccuau said that DNA from one of those arrested could be a match to traces DNA left behind at the scene and that the suspect was throught to be part of the gang that carried out the theft.
“He’s one we had in our sights,” she said, adding that the others “can give us information about how the theft was carried out.”
Police have four days to charge the five before they have to release them.
Two others suspected of using power tools to gain entry — both men in their 30s with police records — were arrested Saturday, one as he was boarding a flight to Algeria, but investigators now believe the gang extends beyond those detained thus far.
Among the riches taken were an emerald and diamond necklace that Napoleon I gave to his second wife, Marie Louise, a diadem set with nearly 2,000 diamonds and more than 200 pearls that belonged to Napoleon III’s wife, Empress Eugenie and six other priceless pieces dating back to the early 1800s.
However, Eugenie’s diamond and emerald-covered crown was left behind after the gang dropped it onto the road in their haste to escape.
The gang, posing as maintenance workers, ascended to a second-floor balcony adjacent to the River Seine, smashed a window and used disc cutters to break into glass display cases housing the jewels.
The Louvre was shut following the robbery, which French Culture Minister Rachida Dati said was an attack on France, and nine of its 28 galleries, including the Apollon, remained closed on Thursday, according to the Louvre website.
The Louvre has since moved some of its most valuable exhibits, including precious jewels, to the Bank of France, a short distance away, to be stored in its main underground vault, 85 feet below rue Croix des Petits Champs.