The Louvre gang is complete, all in jail. With the last of the quartet arrested near Paris, the perpetrators of the sensational robbery at the world's most visited museum are in the hands of justice, along with several accomplices. But there's still no trace of the instigators or the loot, the priceless French Crown Jewels valued at €88 million.
The last member of the gang was arrested by the Paris anti-crime brigade, who also detained three other people "from his entourage." According to information from Le Parisien, the man had been tailed for a month and was apprehended in Mayenne, in the Loire region of western France. Like the other three, who have already appeared before the judge, he is charged with theft and criminal conspiracy. He has a criminal record. He and his companions live in Aubervilliers, just outside Paris.
The other three arrested, according to prosecutor Laure Beccuau, are close to him: a man his age, 38-39, and two women, aged 31 and 40, all living "in the Paris region." Since October 19, the Sunday of the Louvre robbery, police have conducted two raids, bringing three of the four gang members to justice, but have yet to locate the masterminds. And despite the massive deployment of resources, the investigation has failed to find any trace of the eight 19th-century jewels, classified as national treasures, that the gang had managed to steal.
The precious haul, valued at €88 million and deemed "unsellable" in its current state, is missing the diadem of Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III, studded with approximately 2,000 diamonds, which the thieves dropped during their hasty escape. The two thieves who broke into the Apollo Gallery, who managed to open the display cases containing the jewels in four minutes, were caught by their DNA, found by investigators on the freight elevator they had stolen a few days earlier and used to access the Gallery window. Traces of DNA from the other two were found on the scooters used in the escape, which were used to identify and track them down.
Among those arrested in previous raids, a 38-year-old woman, the partner of one of the gang members, remains on probation on suspicion of complicity. The three gang members arrested so far are Ayed G., stopped at Charles de Gaulle Airport while he was about to board a flight to Algeria; Slimane K., Aboudlaye N., and Slimane K., one of the two drivers of the scooters used in the getaway.
(Unioneonline)