The Japan Times - Louvre heist probe: What we know

Three months on from the brazen heist, four suspects are in police custody but the jewels are still nowhere to be found.

Here is what we know -- and don't.

- Four detained -

Four men in their thirties, arrested in October and November, are suspected of being the team who conducted the theft on October 19, 2025.

The pair suspected of having broken in include Abdoulaye N., an unlicensed taxi driver turning 40 this month, who previously showed off his motorbike stunts on social media.

The other is a 35-year-old Algerian, who was detained in October as he was preparing to fly out of Paris.

A third suspect, aged 37, was involved in a previous theft with Abdoulaye N., while a fourth -- who is 38 -- hails from the same Paris suburb as the other three.

Investigating magistrates started questioning them this month, but have no significant leads so far, top Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau has said.

A fifth suspect -- a 38-year-old woman who is the partner of the third suspect -- has been charged with being an accomplice, but released under judicial supervision pending a trial.

- 'Genuine preparation' -

There was "genuine preparation" before the heist, said Beccuau.

The robbers struck early on a Sunday morning, "when everything was slowly getting going at the museum", after locating and stealing a mover's truck with an extendable ladder to reach the first-floor gallery housing the French crown jewels.

After parking the truck below, two of the thieves hoisted themselves up the ladder in a furniture lift, the investigation has shown.

They broke a window and used angle grinders to cut glass cases containing the treasures, while the other two waited below.

They then lowered themselves down with their loot, and the four fled on high-powered motor scooters, dropping a diamond-and-emerald crown in their hurry.

But eight other items -- including an emerald-and-diamond necklace that Napoleon I gave his second wife, Empress Marie-Louise -- remain at large.

- DNA samples -

During the escape, "you can sense a certain amount of stress -- no doubt because they are actually doing it -- which means they end up dropping the jewellery and also leaving behind DNA traces," Beccuau said.

The first suspect -- the motorbike stuntman -- was identified after his DNA was found on broken glass and objects abandoned on site, while the second left genetic clues on a scooter as he fled.

The third -- and his female partner -- had left DNA on the furniture lift.

Further investigations and cross-checks led to the arrest of a fourth, suspected of having parked the truck under the museum gallery, said Beccuau.

- 'Not bunglers' -

Some observers may have called the burglars amateurs, but a source with knowledge of the probe said they were "not such bunglers after all".

"They had put their scooters and equipment in storage units and had disabled the video surveillance" nearby before the heist,he source said, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to reveal details of the investigation.

Dressed as workmen in high-visibility jackets, they completed the whole burglary in just eight minutes.

After they abandoned their scooters for a van, it headed for the suburbs "to throw off the investigators by entering an area not covered by cameras", the source added.

"They then didn't call each other again and went back to their lives as if nothing had happened," the source said.

Contacted by AFP, lawyers of the suspects did not immediately respond or declined to comment.

- Poor security -

Poor security at the Louvre made the robber's getaway easier, a culture ministry probe found last month, even if they evaded security forces with just 30 seconds to spare.

Only one of two security cameras was working near the site where the intruders broke in, and agents in the security control room did not have enough screens to follow the images in real time.

- Missing jewellery -

Beccuau said it was still unclear if a third party ordered the heist -- or indeed where the jewellery might be.

Beccuau said there was no sign the spoils had crossed the French border, but investigators were relying on contacts abroad to signal if something suspicious showed up.

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T.Ueda--JT