PARIS (AP) — On Thursday, authorities expanded their crackdown around the iconic Louvre Museum, detaining five more individuals in connection with the audacious theft of crown jewels. According to the Paris prosecutor, these arrests mark a significant development in the case, extending the investigation throughout the city and its suburbs. Notably, a suspect identified through DNA evidence is among those apprehended, bringing the total number of alleged “commando” team members in custody to three, as they are referred to by French media.

The recent arrests, carried out during late-night operations in Paris and the nearby Seine-Saint-Denis area, have increased the number of individuals detained to seven. Prosecutor Laure Beccuau revealed in an interview with RTL that one of the detainees is believed to be part of the daring group that stormed the Apollo Gallery in broad daylight on October 19. The other suspects, she indicated, could possess crucial information regarding the execution of the heist.

Beccuau described the investigation as an “exceptional mobilization,” highlighting the deployment of approximately 100 investigators working tirelessly throughout the week. The probe has involved the analysis of around 150 forensic samples and the sealing of 189 items as evidence.

Despite these efforts, the missing valuables—estimated to be worth around $102 million—remain elusive. The stolen treasures include a diamond-and-emerald necklace gifted by Napoleon to Empress Marie-Louise on their wedding day, as well as jewels associated with 19th-century Queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense, and Empress Eugénie’s exquisite pearl-and-diamond tiara.

Only one relic has surfaced so far — Eugénie’s crown, damaged but salvageable, dropped in the escape.

Beccuau renewed her appeal: “These jewels are now, of course, unsellable… There’s still time to give them back.”

Experts warn the gold could be melted and the stones re-cut to erase their past.

Key planning details have snapped into focus. Nine days before the raid, thieves stole a truck-mounted lift — the kind movers use to reach upper floors — after answering a fake moving ad on the French classifieds site Leboncoin, Beccuau said Wednesday.

On the day itself, the same vehicle idled beneath the Louvre’s riverside façade.

At 9:30 a.m. it rose to the Apollo Gallery window; at 9:34 the glass gave way; by 9:38 the crew was gone — a four-minute strike. Only the “near-simultaneous” arrival of police and museum security stopped the thieves from torching the lift and preserved crucial traces, the prosecutor said.

Security footage shows at least four men forcing a window, cutting into two display cases with power tools and fleeing on two scooters toward eastern Paris. Investigators say there is no sign of insider help for now, though they are not ruling out a wider network beyond the four on camera.

French police have acknowledged major gaps in the Louvre’s defenses, turning an audacious theft —- carried out as visitors walked its corridors — into a national reckoning over how France protects its treasures.

Paris police chief Patrice Faure told senators the first alert to police came not from the Louvre’s security systems but from a cyclist outside who dialed the emergency line after seeing helmeted men with a basket lift. He acknowledged that aging, partly analog cameras and slow fixes left seams; $93 million of cabling work won’t finish before 2029–30, and the Louvre’s camera authorization even lapsed in July. Officers arrived fast, he said, but the delay came earlier in the chain.

Speaking to AP, former bank robber David Desclos characterized the heist as textbook and said he had warned the Louvre of glaring vulnerabilities in the layout of the Apollo Gallery. The Louvre has not responded to the claim.

Two earlier suspects, men aged 34 and 39 from Aubervilliers, north of Paris, were charged Wednesday with theft by an organized gang and criminal conspiracy after nearly 96 hours in custody. Beccuau said both gave “minimalist” statements and “partially admitted” their involvement.

One was stopped at Charles-de-Gaulle Airport with a one-way ticket to Algeria; his DNA matched a scooter used in the getaway.

French law normally keeps active investigations under a shroud of secrecy to protect police work and victims’ privacy. Only the prosecutor may speak publicly, though in high-profile cases police unions have occasionally shared partial details.

The brazen smash-and-grab inside the world’s most-visited museum stunned the heritage world. Four men, a lift truck and a stopwatch turned the Apollo Gallery’s blaze of gold and light into a crime scene — and a test of how France guards what it holds most dear.

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