The heist of the French crown jewels at the Louvre Museum in Paris is now believed to have been carried out by petty criminals rather than organized crime professionals, according to Paris’s prosecutor.
“This is not quite everyday delinquency … but it is a type of delinquency that we do not generally associate with the upper echelons of organized crime,” Laure Beccuau told France Info Radio.
Four people—three men and one woman—have been charged for the theft. Two of the men arrested had multiple theft convictions and were already charged with theft and criminal conspiracy; the woman was charge with complicity in organized theft and criminal conspiracy with a view to committing a crime and another man was charged with theft and criminal conspiracy.
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The latter two suspects, who have not been publicly named, both denied involvement. Beccuau also indicated that they were in a relationship and had children together. The thieves are reported to be locals of Seine-Saint-Denis, a suburb of Paris.
Investigators still believe that four men are the culprits of the daylight theft and that one of them is on the run. Three others who were detained earlier this week have been released without being charged.
Last month, on Sunday, October 19, around 9:30 a.m., robbers broke into the Parisian museum‘s Apollo Gallery using a cherry picker and an angle grinder to steal nine pieces of jewelry worth an estimated $102 million in less than eight minutes. CCTV footage captured the thieves descending from a gallery window before fleeing the area on scooters. One of the nine pieces, a crown once belonging to Empress Eugénie, was subsequently recovered outside the Louvre.
In a hearing with the French senate, Louvre Museum director Laurence des Cars said that alarms functioned properly and went off during the heist. But she admitted that the museum has “very inadequate” and “outdated” security systems in place.
None of the remaining eight missing artifacts have been recovered so far. In light of the heist, the Louvre has transferred the remainder of its most precious jewels to the Bank of France for safekeeping.
