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The two men and two women taken into custody are from the Paris
region and range in age from 31 to 40, said the prosecutor,
Laure Beccuau, whose office is heading the investigation.
Her statement didn't say what role they're suspected of having
played in the Oct. 19 theft. Police can hold them for
questioning for 96 hours.
French media report that one of those arrested, a 39-year-old
already known to police services, is believed to be the fourth
member of the team thought to have carried out the daring
daylight robbery and is from Aubervilliers, a suburb north of
Paris other suspects have connections with.
The other three alleged members of the so-called “commando” team
have been previously arrested and face preliminary charges of
theft by an organized gang and criminal conspiracy. Their DNA
has been found on the scene or on items linked to the robbery.
A woman arrested in October is accused of complicity.
The loot hasn't been recovered. It includes a
diamond-and-emerald necklace Napoleon gave to Empress
Marie-Louise, jewels tied to 19th-century Queens Marie-Amélie
and Hortense, and Empress Eugénie’s pearl-and-diamond tiara.
The robbery has focused attention on security at the Louvre, the
world's most-visited museum.
The thieves took less than eight minutes to force their way into
the museum and leave, using a freight lift to reach the
building's window. Footage from museum cameras showed two broke
into the ornate Apollo Gallery, cutting into the jewelry display
cases with disc cutters and making off with the trove, while two
riders on scooters whisked them away.
The emerald-set imperial crown of Napoleon III’s wife, Empress
Eugénie, containing more than 1,300 diamonds, was later found
outside the museum.
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