Two additional suspects — a man and a woman arrested this week in connection with the audacious jewel heist at the Louvre — were on Saturday charged and remanded in custody, prosecutors confirmed.
The latest charges bring to four the total number of people now formally accused over the spectacular robbery that stunned France.
According to Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau, the newly charged suspects — a 38-year-old woman and a 37-year-old man — were detained on Wednesday along with three other individuals. The remaining three have since been released without charge.
The woman, who appeared in court in Paris in tears, reportedly expressed deep concern for her children and herself, according to an AFP reporter present at the hearing. She faces charges of complicity in organised theft and participation in a criminal conspiracy with intent to commit a crime.
The magistrate justified her continued detention, citing a “risk of collusion” and potential “disturbance of public order”. The woman is understood to reside in La Courneuve, a northern suburb of the French capital.
The male suspect has been charged with organised theft and criminal conspiracy with intent to commit a crime. Prosecutor Beccuau stated that he was already known to the judicial authorities for previous theft-related offences. He has been placed in pre-trial detention pending a forthcoming hearing in the coming days.
“Both individuals denied any involvement in the events,” Beccuau told reporters.
The case stems from a bold daylight robbery last month when thieves armed with power tools stormed the Louvre — the world’s most visited museum — stealing jewellery estimated to be worth $102 million in a heist that lasted barely seven minutes.
French authorities had initially announced the arrest of two male suspects soon after the incident. Earlier this week, prosecutors revealed that five more individuals, including a main suspect, had since been detained.
Adrien Sorrentino, the lawyer representing the woman who remains in custody, said his client “vehemently denies” all charges.
“She is devastated,” Sorrentino said, addressing journalists. “This was a spectacular heist, and the decision just taken is equally spectacular: a young woman has been imprisoned despite the presumption of innocence.”
Sofia Bougrine, lawyer for one of the individuals arrested but later released, criticised what she described as the indiscriminate nature of the police operation.
“In these major crime cases, we often see that waves of arrests resemble drift nets,” Bougrine remarked to AFP.
The first two men arrested in the aftermath of the robbery were earlier charged with theft and criminal conspiracy after “partially admitting to the charges,” according to Beccuau. They are believed to have been the pair who physically broke into the gallery while two accomplices remained outside as lookouts.
Both suspects lived in the northeastern Paris suburb of Aubervilliers. One, a 34-year-old Algerian national residing in France, was identified through DNA traces discovered on one of the scooters used in the getaway. The second, a 39-year-old unlicensed taxi driver, was also known to the police for previous thefts.
The Algerian suspect was apprehended at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport just as he was about to board a flight to Algeria. The other man was arrested shortly afterwards near his home; prosecutors stated that there was no indication he intended to flee abroad.
The stolen jewels, however, remain missing. During their escape, the thieves reportedly dropped a diamond- and emerald-studded crown once belonging to Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III.
They managed to escape with eight other precious items, including an emerald-and-diamond necklace given by Napoleon I to his second wife, Empress Marie-Louise, and a diadem that also belonged to Empress Eugénie, adorned with nearly 2,000 diamonds.
“I remain confident that we will be able to recover them,” Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez told Le Parisien, expressing optimism that the investigation will eventually lead to the recovery of the priceless artefacts.