Paris
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Paris prosecutors announced on Thursday that they had arrested five new suspects on suspicion of stealing French treasures from the Louvre, bringing the total number of arrests in the stunning heist to seven.
One of the five new suspects is believed to have been part of a four-man gang that carried out the robbery, prosecutor Laure Becuaux told French radio RTL.
This means that after an 11-day manhunt, police have arrested three of the four men believed to have been directly involved in the robbery by posing as construction workers to steal Napoleonic-era artifacts.
Bequo said the investigation had not yet recovered the looted treasure, which is estimated to be worth more than $100 million. Experts say the jewelry, including an emerald necklace set with more than 1,000 diamonds that Napoleon gave to his second wife, is likely to be dismantled for raw materials.
The latest arrests occurred on Wednesday night in Paris and surrounding areas, including Seine-Saint-Denis.
The first two suspects were arrested over the weekend, with one reportedly attempting to flee to Algeria from Charles de Gaulle airport near Paris.
These two suspects were placed under formal investigation on suspicion of organized theft and criminal conspiracy. Mr Baquo announced late on Wednesday that after 96 hours of interrogation, the two men had “partially admitted” their involvement.
The first suspect is a 34-year-old Algerian national. He has a history of traffic-related offenses and was identified through DNA recovered from one of the scooters.
The second suspect, 39, is an illegal taxi driver and delivery driver from the Paris suburb of Aubervilliers. He was previously known to police for felony theft. Prosecutors said his DNA was found on broken glass in one of the display cases.
Police did not immediately provide details about the five new suspects.
The robbery attracted world attention and raised uncomfortable questions about security at France’s most-visited museum. Louvre director Laurence de Cale admitted in the French Senate that surveillance cameras were not monitoring the second-floor balcony where thieves used an angle grinder to break into the Apollo Gallery on October 19.
