Four additional arrests have been made in connection with last month’s high-profile jewel heist at the Louvre Museum, French authorities have confirmed.
Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said two men and two women, all from the Paris region and aged between 31 and 40, were taken into custody as part of the ongoing investigation.
Her office did not specify what role the four are suspected of playing in the October 19 theft. Under French law, police can hold them for up to 96 hours for questioning.
French media have reported that one of those detained – a 39-year-old previously known to law enforcement – is believed to be the fourth member of the group suspected of carrying out the daylight robbery.
He is reportedly from Aubervilliers, the same suburb north of Paris to which other suspects have ties.
The three other alleged members of the so-called “commando” team had already been arrested and face preliminary charges of theft by an organised gang and criminal conspiracy.
Investigators say their DNA was found either at the scene or on items connected to the heist.
A woman arrested in October is also accused of complicity.
The stolen jewels, valued at $157 million, have not been recovered.
Among the missing pieces are a diamond-and-emerald necklace Napoleon gave to Empress Marie-Louise, jewels linked to 19th-century Queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense, and Empress Eugenie’s pearl-and-diamond tiara.
The robbery has prompted renewed scrutiny of security measures at the Louvre, the world’s most visited museum.
According to investigators, the thieves took less than eight minutes to break in and escape.
Using a basket lift to access a window, the group forced entry before two members cut into display cases in the museum’s ornate Apollo Gallery with disc cutters.
They made off with the jewellery while two accomplices waited outside on scooters.
The emerald-set imperial crown of Empress Eugenie, containing more than 1300 diamonds, was later found abandoned near the museum.
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