Paris — Five more people have been arrested in the investigation into the theft of crown jewels from the Louvre Museum, but the treasures remain missing, the Paris prosecutor announced Thursday.
The five were detained late Wednesday night in Paris and the Paris region, Prosecutor Laure Beccuau told RTL radio.
One is suspected of being part of the four-person team that robbed the Louvre’s Apollo Gallery in broad daylight Oct. 19, the prosecutor said.
She said the DNA-linked suspect was “one of the objectives of the investigators — we had him in our sights.” Others taken into custody, she said, “may be able to inform us about how the events unfolded,” but she did not release their identities or other details.
Two earlier suspects, men aged 34 and 39 from Aubervilliers, north of Paris, were charged Wednesday with theft and criminal conspiracy after nearly 96 hours in custody. Beccuau said both gave “minimalist” statements and “partially admitted” their involvement.
Emma Da Silva/AP
For now, Beccuau said, there is no evidence of insider help among Louvre staff, though investigators are not ruling out a wider network beyond the four seen on security footage.
The latest arrests still did not help uncover the stolen jewelry, Beccuau said.
It took thieves less than eight minutes to steal the jewels valued at 88 million euros, or $102 million, shocking the world. The robbers forced open a window, cut into cases with power tools and fled with eight pieces of the French crown jewels, including a diamond-and-emerald necklace that Napoleon Bonaparte gave to Empress Marie Louise as a wedding gift.
But master jeweler and Parisian gem appraiser Stephen Portier told CBS News the thieves will struggle to sell the gems.
“The whole world knows about this robbery. Dealers will have pictures of every single piece up in their offices,” he said. “So if they think they’re being offered diamonds from the Louvre … they will ask some hard questions. And contact the police.”
Portier said the robbers might have to recut the stolen gems, which would significantly decrease their value.
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