Jauhn Etienne Villaruel

Article (news)

Louvre

Agence France-Presse

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1762126172820cropped-pexels-pixabay-2356.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Louvre in Paris, France. Photo from Pexels</span></span></span></div><div><br/></div><p>PARIS, France — Small-time criminals are believed to be behind the spectacular jewel heist at the Louvre, the top Paris prosecutor said Sunday, adding that two of the suspects are a couple with children. </p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/10/23/louvre-director-admits-insufficient-camera-coverage-after-heist-0116">Louvre director admits &#x27;insufficient&#x27; camera coverage after heist</a></div><p>Last month, a four-strong gang raided the Louvre, the world&#x27;s most-visited art museum, in broad daylight, taking just seven minutes to steal jewelry worth an estimated $102 million before fleeing on scooters.</p><p>The thieves parked a truck with an extendable ladder below the museum&#x27;s Apollo Gallery housing the French crown jewels, clambered up, broke a window and used angle grinders to cut into glass display booths containing the treasures.</p><p>Two men suspected of being the pair who broke into the gallery while their two accomplices waited outside have been detained, charged and remanded in custody.</p><p>Prosecutors said on Saturday that two more suspects -- a man and a woman -- had also been charged and remanded in custody.</p><p>Authorities have so far not recovered the stolen jewels.</p><p>On Sunday, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said that the suspects, who lived in the French capital&#x27;s northern suburbs, were believed to be small-time criminals and not members of organized crime groups.</p><p>Their profiles do not correspond to those &quot;generally associated with the upper echelons of organized crime&quot;, Beccuau told France Info.</p><p>At least one other person is still being sought, she added.</p><p>Beccuau said that the 37-year-old man and 38-year-old woman charged on Saturday were a couple and had children together.</p><p>They have &quot;denied any involvement&quot;, Beccuau said, adding that the man refused to make any statement.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>&#x27;LOCAL PEOPLE&#x27;</strong></div><div><br/></div><p>The suspects are &quot;clearly local people&quot;, she said.</p><p>&quot;They all lived more or less in Seine-Saint-Denis,&quot; the prosecutor said, referring to a region north of Paris.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/10/26/two-suspects-arrested-in-louvre-jewel-heist-2303">Two suspects arrested in Louvre jewel heist</a></div><p>&quot;Some are connected, particularly the couple,&quot; she said.</p><p>Two of the male suspects were convicted in a theft case together in 2015, she added.</p><p>The 37-year-old man has been charged with organized theft and criminal conspiracy, while his partner has been charged with complicity in organised theft and criminal conspiracy.</p><p>The woman was in tears as she appeared at a Paris court on Saturday, saying she feared for her children and for herself.</p><p>The couple were arrested after their DNA was found in the basket lift used during the robbery.</p><p>&quot;Significant&quot; DNA evidence linking the man to the crime was found in the basket lift, the prosecutor said. Traces of his partner&#x27;s DNA were also found, but they might have been transferred there through contact with a person or object, she added.</p><p>&quot;All this will need to be investigated,&quot; Beccuau said.</p><p>The man&#x27;s criminal record contained 11 previous convictions, most of them for theft, she said.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>&#x27;BLACK MARKET&#x27;</strong></div><div><br/></div><p>The first two men arrested earlier were also known to the police for having committed thefts. Both lived in the northeastern Paris suburb of Aubervilliers.</p><p>One of the two men from Aubervilliers and the man charged on Saturday &quot;were involved in the same theft case for which they were convicted in Paris in 2015&quot;, said the prosecutor.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/10/22/louvre-director-faces-grilling-over-102-million-jewels-heist-1105">Louvre director faces grilling over $102 million jewels heist</a></div><p>Three people arrested along with the couple this week have been released without charge.</p><p>The thieves dropped a diamond- and emerald-studded crown that once belonged to Empress Eugenie, the wife of Napoleon III, as they escaped.</p><p>But they made off with eight other items of jewelry including an emerald-and-diamond necklace that Napoleon I gave his second wife, Empress Marie-Louise.</p><p>The search for the jewels is continuing, the prosecutor said.</p><p>&quot;All avenues are being explored,&quot; she said, adding the treasures &quot;could be used for money laundering&quot;.</p><p>&quot;We are examining all the possibilities offered by the black market for selling this jewelry, which I hope will not happen any time soon.&quot;</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEOS</strong></div><div><br/></div><div><strong><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qxmV2pgHXXA?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/f6baBeBu9Dc?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QLL_ZYvd584?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span></strong><br/></div>

<p>Small-time criminals are believed to be behind the spectacular jewel heist at the Louvre, the top Paris prosecutor said Sunday.</p>

Small-time criminals are believed to be behind the spectacular jewel heist at the Louvre, the top Paris prosecutor said Sunday.