The audacious daytime robbery of historic jewelry worth 88 million euros from Paris's Louvre Museum last month was the work of petty criminals, not professionals from the world of organized crime, Paris prosecutor Lor Beko said.
Two weeks ago, on a Sunday morning, two men parked a truck with a crane in front of the Louvre, climbed up to the second floor, smashed a window, smashed display cases with angle grinders, and then fled on scooters driven by two other helpers. The entire operation lasted less than seven minutes, Reuters reports.
With three of the four suspected thieves now believed to be in custody, and the jewelry still undiscovered, authorities say their profiles do not fit the image of professional gangsters from movies like Ocean's Eleven, but rather petty criminals from the poorer northern suburbs of Paris.
"This is not exactly common delinquency... but it is a type of delinquency that we don't usually associate with the top of organized crime," Beko told Franceinfo radio.
"Obviously local people"
The prosecutor stated that the profiles of the four people arrested so far, including the girlfriend of one of the suspected robbers, are not typical of professionals from criminal networks capable of complex operations.
"These are obviously local people. They all live, more or less, in the Sén-Saint-Denis area," the prosecutor said, referring to a poor area north of Paris.
French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told Le Parisien newspaper that he believed a suspect still at large was likely the mastermind of the robbery, Reuters reports.
French media speculate that the robbers were amateurs, because during their escape they dropped the most valuable piece of jewelry - the crown of Empress Eugenie, made of gold, emeralds and diamonds, and left tools, gloves and other items at the scene, and did not set the truck on fire before fleeing, as they apparently planned.
Arrested while attempting to escape
A week after the robbery, police arrested two men suspected of breaking into the Louvre – a 34-year-old Algerian man who has lived in France since 2010 and was detained while trying to board a flight to Algiers, and a 39-year-old man who was already under judicial supervision for aggravated theft.
Both live in Aubervilliers, north of Paris, and, according to Beko, “partially admitted their participation” in the robbery.
Two other suspects, a 37-year-old man and a 38-year-old woman, were arrested on October 29 and charged on Saturday.
At least one person still at large
Beko said the 37-year-old is believed to be a member of the four-member group that carried out the robbery, based on DNA traces found in the truck used for transport.
He has 11 previous convictions for various crimes, including traffic violations, aggravated theft and attempted ATM robbery.
She added that he was in a relationship with a 38-year-old woman with whom he has children, and that he and one of the previously arrested men had already been convicted of the same robbery in 2015.
Traces of the woman's DNA were also found in the truck, but the prosecutor stated that they were likely transferred subsequently, via a person or object that later ended up in the vehicle.
The prosecution said both deny involvement in the robbery.
BFM television reported that the woman burst into tears when she heard she would remain in custody, saying: "I'm afraid for my children and for myself, I'm afraid."
Her lawyer, Adrien Sorrentino, told BFM that she denies all the allegations and is considering appealing her detention.
When asked if authorities believed three of the four Louvre robbers were now in custody, Beko said that "at least one person is still at large." She did not rule out the possibility that there were more accomplices.
The prosecution added that three people arrested along with the couple on October 29 were released without charge.
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