Five Additional Suspects Detained in Connection With Louvre Jewelry Theft

French authorities have taken five more individuals into custody over the October 19 robbery that removed eight pieces of royal jewelry from the Louvre Museum, bringing the total number of suspects detained in the case to seven.

Paris Prosecutor Laure Beccuau confirmed the new arrests on Wednesday during an interview with RTL radio. All five suspects were apprehended in Seine-Saint-Denis, a suburban department northeast of Paris that has figured prominently in the investigation since the crime occurred. Their names have not been released, and formal charges were still pending at the time of Beccuau’s statement.

Investigators are continuing to search for the missing jewels, which have not been located despite a series of coordinated police operations. According to Beccuau, forensic specialists recovered DNA from a helmet left inside the Louvre after the theft. The genetic profile matched one of the individuals arrested on Wednesday, prompting detectives to place that suspect under both physical and electronic surveillance before executing the raid.

The latest detentions follow the arrest of two men in their 30s last weekend, also in Seine-Saint-Denis. One of those men, holding dual French-Algerian citizenship, was stopped at approximately 10 p.m. on Saturday at Charles de Gaulle Airport while attempting to board a flight to Algeria. Authorities initially believed the second weekend suspect—who holds dual French-Malian nationality—was preparing to travel to Mali, but Beccuau later clarified that investigators now think he had no immediate plans to leave France. Both men were already known to law-enforcement agencies for prior burglary cases.

With seven people now in custody, detectives are examining the possibility that the robbery involved assistance from someone with intimate knowledge of the Louvre’s layout and security procedures. A source familiar with the inquiry said officers are reviewing internal access records, alarm data, and staff schedules from the night of the break-in to determine whether any insiders acted as accomplices. Speaking last week, Culture Minister Rachida Dati noted that the thieves appeared to know “exactly where they were going,” suggesting an operation that was “organized and professional”—comments that investigators are treating as consistent with the evidence collected so far.

The heist took place after closing time on October 19, when at least two intruders gained entry to a restricted exhibition room housing the jewels. Surveillance footage captured the thieves moving directly toward the display cases, disabling an alarm, and leaving within minutes. The items stolen include rings, brooches, and a diamond-encrusted tiara, all of which once belonged to members of France’s royal family. Museum officials have not disclosed the combined value of the pieces, but independent appraisers place the loss in the tens of millions of euros.

Police technicians processed the crime scene and recorded multiple traces of biological material, but the helmet proved to be the most significant lead. Once the DNA hit was confirmed, investigators secured court authorization to wiretap several phone lines and conduct discreet surveillance. Those efforts culminated in Wednesday’s predawn sweeps across three addresses in Seine-Saint-Denis, where officers seized mobile devices, digital storage media, and articles of clothing that will undergo forensic examination.

Imagem: Internet

Law-enforcement officials are also liaising with customs authorities and border police to prevent the stolen artifacts from being smuggled out of France. In cases involving high-value cultural property, international coordination is often handled through INTERPOL’s Works of Art unit, which maintains a global database of missing artworks and provides investigative support to member countries.

Although prosecutors have not specified a timeline for concluding the inquiry, Beccuau said further arrests remain possible as detectives analyze the evidence collected during the latest round of searches. Meanwhile, the Louvre has tightened internal security protocols and increased overnight patrols while continuing to cooperate fully with investigators.

Anyone with information about the whereabouts of the stolen jewels is urged to contact the Direction Régionale de la Police Judiciaire de Paris. Authorities stressed that tipsters may remain anonymous.

Crédito da imagem: Julien De Rosa/AFP via Getty Images