The list of those accused in the Louvre Museum theft increases news

On Saturday, a judge filed charges against a man and a woman as part of the investigation into the theft of the Louvre Museum in Paris, bringing the total number of people being pursued to 4, about two weeks after this incident, while the stolen items are still missing.

Five people were arrested on Wednesday evening in the Paris region, and two were charged, including a 38-year-old mother, while three people were released, according to police sources and sources familiar with the case.

The woman was charged with complicity in organized robbery and criminal conspiracy with the aim of committing a crime, and was placed in pretrial detention.

The woman lives in the northern suburb of La Courneuve in Paris, and appeared before the judge crying, saying that she was “scared” for her children and herself.

The judge stated that her detention was justified by the existence of a “risk of collusion” and “disruption of public order.”

Adrian Sorrentino, one of the woman’s lawyers, confirmed that she “strongly rejects the charges against her.”

A source reported that the other accused was also placed in pretrial detention.

Paris Public Prosecutor Laure Picot explained on Thursday morning that among the suspects arrested on Wednesday was a supposed member of the group that included 4 people, and the theft was carried out last October 19 in less than 8 minutes.

DNA

Last October 25, the authorities arrested two men on suspicion of belonging to the group of 4 individuals that carried out the theft, and one of them was at Roissy Airport in Paris preparing to travel to Algeria.

The two men were formally charged and placed in pretrial detention on Wednesday evening, and Laure Picot confirmed that they made “brief” confessions while in detention.

She added that the new arrests on Wednesday were “not at all linked to the statements” of the two men, but rather to “other elements in the case file,” such as DNA evidence, surveillance camera recordings, and phone records.

For her part, French Minister of Culture Rachida Dati revealed – last Friday – a report containing the preliminary results of the administrative investigation into the museum’s security.

According to the minister, the report highlighted the “chronic and structural underestimation of the risk of break-ins and theft,” the “lack of security equipment,” and “completely outdated protocols” for dealing with thefts and break-ins.