The heist of France’s Louvre crown jewel was carried out by petty criminals, not an organized crime ring, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said, adding another twist to the shocking case.
“This is not everyday crime… but it is a type of crime that we generally do not associate with the upper echelons of organized crime.” Beccuau told Franceinfo radio on Sunday.
The four suspects charged so far in connection with the robbery lived in Seine-Saint-Denis, a working-class neighborhood north of Paris, and are “clearly local people,” he said.
Two of the suspects were known to police before the robbery and had multiple robbery convictions.
One of the men is 37 years old and has 10 previous convictions for robbery.
Beccuau said he has “a varied criminal record, but none that would typically suggest involvement with organized crime.” Another suspect has two previous convictions for robbery, he added.
The two men were convicted for their involvement in the same robbery in Paris in 2015, he said.
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On Saturday, a 38-year-old woman was charged with complicity in organized larceny and conspiracy to commit a crime with intent to commit a crime.
Beccuau said the 37-year-old man and the woman charged over the weekend are a couple and have children, but did not provide further details.
Investigators believe four men carried out the heist and one is reportedly still at large.
When asked about the profile of the suspects, Beccuau told the radio station: “I don’t find it that surprising. What we are seeing now is that people without any significant association with organized crime are progressing relatively quickly to committing extremely serious crimes.”
A four-person team ransacked the Louvre’s Apollo Gallery in broad daylight on October 19 after entering through a broken window.
The stolen jewels, a treasure valued at around $102 million, have not been recovered, except for one relic: Eugénie’s crown, damaged but recoverable, after the suspects dropped it during their escape.
A diamond and emerald necklace that Napoleon gave to Empress Marie Louise as a wedding gift is still missing, as well as pieces linked to 19th-century queens Marie Amélie and Hortensia, and Empress Eugenie’s pearl and diamond tiara.
Necklace and earrings from the emerald set of Napoleon I’s second wife, Empress Marie Louise, displayed at the Apollo gallery housing the royal collection of gems and diamonds of the French crown in Paris on May 20, 2021.
MAEVA DESTOMBES/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images
It took the thieves, who used a crane to scale the building’s exterior walls, less than eight minutes to enter the world’s most visited museum, a feat the museum’s director called a “terrible failure.”
Thieves stole the crane used to reach the upper floors of the building nine days before the breach occurred.
Security footage shows the crew ascending to the Apollo Gallery window at 9:30 a.m. on the day of the raid. By 9:38, the suspects were gone, carrying the loot, as they sped away on scooters.
According to investigators, there is no evidence of inside help at this time, but they do not rule out a broader network beyond the four suspects caught on security cameras.
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