A man suspected of being the fourth member of the gang behind last month’s Louvre heist was arrested yesterday (25 November) in the small city of Laval, 280km west of Paris.
Le Parisien newspaper reports that the suspect has a criminal record and has been charged with organised theft and criminal conspiracy. He is believed to have links to the three alleged members of the gang who had already been arrested.
Three relatives of the suspect were also taken into custody on Tuesday and are being questioned by the anti-gang squad. “They are two men aged 38 and 39, and two women aged 31 and 40, all from the Paris region,” Laure Beccuau, the Paris prosecutor, said in a statement.
The prosecutor declined to give any more details on the arrests before the end of the suspect’s detention period. Under French law, they can be held for four days.
Media reports have identified the three men previously charged in connection with the robbery as Ayed G, Slimane K and Abdoulaye N. It is believed that they were already known to police in relation to multiple thefts and traffic offences.
The seven-minute attack on the Louvre took place on 19 October and saw thieves make off with French crown jewels, valued at €88m. Though the heist at first seemed to be the work of seasoned professionals, the prosecutor has since acknowledged that they were not “high level organised criminals”.
The ensuing security scandal in the wake of the robbery has left Louvre director Laurence des Cars struggling to save her grand project for a new entrance to the Louvre. The planned development would lead to a 22,000 sq. m underground complex around the Mona Lisa and an exhibition hall.
Shortly after the robbery, the state auditing body published a scathing report concluding the Louvre had “chosen visible and attractive events” over the safety of its collections. It also described the plan for a new entrance, which has an estimated budget of €666m, as “financially unsound”. The top priority, it said, should be given to urgently restoring vital infrastructure.
Defending her position in the French parliament last week, des Cars said she "totally opposed" these conclusions, and argued that the project for the new entrance should be incorporated with the technical maintenance of the palace, for a total budget reaching more than €1.1bn.