5 more suspects arrested over Louvre jewel heist
LONDON -- Five more suspects have been arrested in connection with the Oct. 19 jewel heist at the Louvre Museum in Paris, according to Paris Prosecutor Laure Beccuau.
The arrests took place on Wednesday in the Seine-Saint-Denis region in the suburbs of Paris, though French authorities have not yet named any of the suspects.
Beccuau, speaking on French radio station RTL, said the stolen jewelry has still not been found but that police believe one of the suspects arrested in Wednesday's raid could be a major person of interest due to his DNA being found at the scene of the crime.
French police told ABC News that one of the suspects arrested Wednesday had already been identified and was under surveillance for several days.
The fresh arrests bring to seven the total number of people detained related to the heist. Two other people -- both men in their 30s and from the Paris suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis -- were arrested last weekend, French National Police confirmed to ABC News.
Investigators said they matched trace DNA evidence recovered from a helmet left at the scene of the crime to one of the suspects, enabling police to put the alleged thief under phone and physical surveillance.
One suspect was arrested at 10 p.m. on Saturday at Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport while trying to board a plane bound for Algeria, according to police.
Investigators previously told ABC News that the second suspect was arrested as he was about to travel to Mali, but on Wednesday, Beccuau said the man had no intention of leaving the country.
One of the suspects has dual citizenship in France and Mali, and the other is a dual citizen of France and Algeria, investigators said, adding that both were already known to police from past burglary cases.
Investigators say they're still determining whether a source inside the Louvre may have had a role in the theft.
"They knew exactly where they were going. It looks like something very organized and very professional," French Culture Minister Rachida Dati told ABC News last week.
