Five new suspects have been arrested in connection with the Louvre heist in Paris, officials said Thursday, though the jewels themselves remain missing.
Paris Prosecutor Laure Beccuau gave the update to the French radio station RTL. She said that the arrests were made Wednesday in a series of police operations in Paris and surrounding areas.
Beccuau did not provide details on their identities but said that one had been tracked using DNA from the scene, leading authorities to suspect that they were part of the four-person team of thieves that carried out the stunning heist.
“The searches that were conducted during the night didn’t allow us to find the loot,” Beccuau added.
Two others suspected of breaking into the Galerie D’Apollon, both former delivery drivers, have “partially confessed” to their part in the crime, Beccuau revealed a day earlier.
They include an Algerian national, 34, who was unemployed at the time of his arrest but had previously worked as a delivery driver. The second suspect, 39, is a taxi driver and a former delivery driver.
One was arrested trying to board an aircraft to Algeria on Saturday night with a one-way ticket. Both were known to the police for past offenses, Beccuau said.
Paris was rocked by the daylight theft 11 days ago, in which the thieves used a furniture elevator to break into the Louvre, the world’s most famous museum, and steal jewels once worn by French royalty worth an estimated $102 million.
French authorities have acknowledged major gaps in the Louvre’s security, with unions blaming staff cuts and funding shortfalls.
—NBC