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French prosecutors charged two more suspects Saturday in connection with last month's brazen daylight robbery at the Louvre, bringing the total number facing charges to four as investigators continue searching for the stolen imperial jewels.
A 38-year-old woman and a 37-year-old man appeared before magistrates and were remanded in custody following their arrests Wednesday, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau announced. Three other individuals arrested alongside them have been released without charge.
The woman, a resident of La Courneuve in northern Paris, wept as she appeared in court, telling the judge she feared for herself and her children, according to an AFP reporter present. She faces charges of complicity in organized theft and criminal conspiracy with intent to prepare a crime.
Magistrates ordered her detention citing "risk of collusion" and potential "disturbance of public order."
The 37-year-old man, previously known to authorities for theft offenses, was charged with organized theft and criminal conspiracy. He awaits a hearing in the coming days while held in pre-trial detention.
"Both individuals denied any involvement in the events," Beccuau said.
The arrests follow the spectacular February heist at the world's most visited art museum, where thieves armed with power tools executed a seven-minute raid that netted jewelry valued at approximately $102 million. The thieves struck in broad daylight, targeting the museum's collection of French imperial treasures.
Two male suspects arrested earlier in the investigation have already been charged with theft and criminal conspiracy after "partially admitting to the charges," according to Beccuau. Authorities believe they were the pair who broke into the gallery while two accomplices waited outside.
One of those men, a 34-year-old Algerian national living in the northeastern Paris suburb of Aubervilliers, was identified through DNA traces found on a scooter used in the escape. Police arrested him at Charles de Gaulle Airport as he prepared to board a flight to Algeria. The second man, a 39-year-old unlicensed taxi driver also from Aubervilliers, was apprehended near his home shortly after with no indication he planned to flee the country.
Both had prior records for theft.
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Defense attorneys criticized the investigation's scope. Adrien Sorrentino, representing the woman remanded in custody, said his client "vehemently" denied the charges.
"She is devastated," Sorrentino told reporters. "This is a spectacular heist, and the decision that has just been made is a spectacular one: a young woman has just been placed in detention despite being presumed innocent."
Sofia Bougrine, attorney for one of the suspects released without charge, questioned the sweep of the arrests.
"In these serious crime cases, we find that waves of arrests look more like drift nets," Bougrine told AFP.
The stolen jewelry remains missing despite the arrests. In their haste to escape, the thieves abandoned a diamond-and-emerald-studded crown that belonged to Empress Eugenie, wife of Napoleon III.
The eight items they successfully took include an emerald-and-diamond necklace Napoleon I gifted his second wife, Empress Marie-Louise, and a diamond-encrusted diadem belonging to Empress Eugenie that features nearly 2,000 diamonds.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez expressed optimism about recovering the stolen pieces.
"I remain confident that we will be able to find them," Nunez told French daily Le Parisien.
The Louvre heist represents one of the most significant museum thefts in recent French history, with the imperial collection pieces carrying both extraordinary monetary value and immense historical significance to France's Napoleonic heritage.
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