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A woman arrested this week along with four other suspects over the unprecedented jewel heist at the Louvre was charged and remanded in custody on Saturday.The 38-year-old was in tears as she appeared at a Paris court, saying she feared for "her children" and for herself, according to AFP.She has been charged with complicity in organised theft and criminal conspiracy with a view to committing a crime.The magistrate justified the detention of the woman who lives in the French capital's northern suburb of La Courneuve on the grounds of a "risk of collusion" and "disturbance of public order".In total, two of the five people arrested this week were charged on Saturday, while the other three have been released without charge, police sources and sources close to the case told AFP.Last month, thieves wielding power tools raided the Louvre, the world's most visited art museum, in broad daylight, taking just seven minutes to steal jewellery worth an estimated $102 million.French authorities initially announced the arrest of two male suspects over the Louvre robbery, and this week prosecutors said that police had arrested five more people.Adrien Sorrentino, a lawyer for the woman who was remanded in custody, said his client "vehemently" denied the charges against her."She is devastated," he 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."One other person under investigation has also been placed in pre-trial detention, pending a hearing postponed until Tuesday, said one of the sources.Three of the five people arrested this week were released without charge.Sofia Bougrine, a lawyer for one of them, pointed to what she said was the indiscriminate nature of some of the arrests."In these serious crime cases, we find that waves of arrests look more like drift nets," Bougrine told AFP.The first two men arrested previously were charged with theft and criminal conspiracy after "partially admitting to the charges", Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said this week.They are suspected of being the two who broke into the gallery while two accomplices waited outside.Both lived in the northeastern Paris suburb of Aubervilliers.One is a 34-year-old Algerian national living in France, who was identified by DNA traces found on one of the scooters used to flee the heist. The second man is a 39-year-old unlicensed taxi driver.Both were known to the police for having committed thefts.The first was arrested as he was about to board a plane for Algeria at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport.The second was apprehended shortly after near his home, and there was no evidence to suggest that he was planning to go abroad, prosecutors said.The stolen loot remains missing.The thieves dropped a diamond- and emerald-studded crown that once belonged to Empress Eugenie, the wife of Napoleon III, as they escaped.The burglars made off with eight other items of jewellery.Among them are an emerald-and-diamond necklace that Napoleon I gave his second wife, Empress Marie-Louise, and a diadem that once belonged to the Empress Eugenie, which is dotted with nearly 2,000 diamonds.

The loot stolen from the Louvre during the weekend heist is valued at more than $100 million, a French prosecutor said Tuesday, as scrutiny mounted over security at the country's cultural institutions.Thieves on Sunday made off with priceless royal jewels from the Louvre museum in a brazen daylight robbery which lasted just seven minutes."The Louvre curator estimated the damages to be 88 million euros," or $102 million, said Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau, calling it an "extraordinary" sum.But she said the greater loss was to France's historical heritage, adding that the thieves would not pocket the full windfall if they had "the very bad idea of melting down these jewels".The theft is the latest from French museums in recent months, and has left authorities scrambling to increase protection measures.In a separate case, a prosecutor said on Tuesday that a Chinese woman had been charged over taking part in the theft of more than $1 million worth of gold nuggets from another Paris museum last month.Scores of investigators were still looking for Sunday's culprits, working on the theory that it was an organised crime group that clambered up a ladder on a truck to break into the museum, then dropped a diamond-studded crown as they fled.Beccuau confirmed that four people were involved in Sunday's robbery and said authorities were analysing fingerprints found at the scene.Detectives were scouring video camera footage from around the Louvre as well as of main highways out of Paris for signs of the four robbers, who escaped on scooters.The heist has reignited a row over the lack of security in French museums, after two other institutions were hit last month.A report by France's Court of Auditors seen by AFP covering 2019 to 2024 points to a "persistent" delay in security upgrades at the Louvre. Only a fourth of one wing was covered by video surveillance.In January, Louvre president Laurence des Cars warned Culture Minister Rachida Dati of a "worrying level of obsolescence", citing the urgent need for major renovations.Interior Minister Laurent Nunez on Monday said he would tighten security outside cultural institutions.In Sunday's heist, thieves parked a truck with an extendable ladder, like those used by movers, below the museum's Apollo Gallery shortly after it opened, climbing up and using cutting equipment to get through a window and open the display cases to steal the jewellery.They made off with eight priceless pieces, including an emerald-and-diamond necklace that Napoleon I gave his wife, Empress Marie-Louise and a diadem that once belonged to the Empress Eugenie, which is dotted with nearly 2,000 diamonds.The museum on Tuesday hit back at criticism that the display cases protecting the jewellery were fragile, saying they were installed in 2019 and "represented a considerable improvement in terms of security".Just last month, criminals broke into Paris's Natural History Museum, making off with gold nuggets worth more than $1.5 million.French authorities announced on Tuesday a 24-year-old Chinese woman has been charged and put in detention in that case after she was arrested in Barcelona, while trying to dispose of nearly one kilogram of melted gold pieces.Also last month, thieves stole two dishes and a vase from a museum in the central city of Limoges, the losses estimated at $7.6 million."Museums are increasingly targeted for the valuable works they hold," according to the Central Office for the Fight against Trafficking in Cultural Property.Labour unions have complained that security staff positions at the Louvre have been cut, even as attendance at the world-famous museum, whose extensive collections include the Mona Lisa, has soared."We cannot do without physical surveillance," a union official said.The Louvre was shut per its usual schedule on Tuesday, having been closed on Sunday and Monday after the heist, leaving crowds of disappointed tourists.

The Louvre was closed for a second day Monday as police hunted for thieves who broke in and stole priceless royal jewels in a spectacular daylight robbery.Officials said a team of 60 investigators was working on the theory that an organised crime group was behind the theft Sunday of nine pieces of jewellery, one of which -- a crown covered in more than 1,000 diamonds -- they dropped in the streets of Paris as they fled.As disappointed tourists rebooked tickets to the world's most visited museum, the heist -- which lasted just seven minutes -- also reignited a row over the lack of security in France's museums, after two other institutions were hit last month.Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin admitted to flaws in securing the Louvre."What is certain is that we have failed, since people were able to park a furniture hoist in the middle of Paris, get people up it in several minutes to grab priceless jewels, giving France a terrible image," he told France Inter radio on Monday.Interior Minister Laurent Nunez has ordered better protection measures around cultural sites, his advisers said.A report by France's Court of Auditors seen by AFP covering 2019 to 2024 points to a "persistent" delay in the museum's security upgrades, with for example just a fourth of one wing of the museum covered by video surveillance.The thieves arrived at around 9:30 am (0730 GMT) on Sunday, shortly after the museum opened at 9:00 am, sources and officials said.They parked a truck with an extendable ladder like those used by movers below the Paris museum's Apollo Gallery, clambering up and using cutting equipment to get in through a window and open the display cases.The world-famous institution, whose extensive collections include the Mona Lisa, may not open again until Wednesday, as it is usually shut on Tuesdays.Shortly before the announcement it was staying closed, queues of impatient visitors had snaked their way across the museum's pyramid courtyard and under the tall arches of the main entrance gallery, hoping to get in.US tourist Jesslyn Ehlers, 38, and her husband were busy rebooking their tickets."We're just kind of disappointed. We've been planning this for a very long time," she said.Carol Fuchs, an elderly tourist from the United States, had been standing in line for more than three-quarters of an hour."The audacity, coming through a window," she told AFP after the disappearance of the jewels."Will they ever be found? I doubt it. I think it's long gone," she said.The masked thieves dropped and damaged the crown of Empress Eugenie, the wife of Napoleon III, as they made their escape. It is covered in 1,354 diamonds and 56 emeralds, according to the museum's website.But eight priceless items of jewellery remain missing, according to the culture ministry.The list they released included an emerald-and-diamond necklace that Napoleon I gave his wife, Empress Marie-Louise.Also stolen was a diadem that once belonged to the Empress Eugenie, which is dotted with nearly 2,000 diamonds, and a necklace that once belonged to Marie-Amelie, the last queen of France. It is adorned with eight sapphires and 631 diamonds, according to the Louvre's website.The loot would be impossible to sell on in its current state, said Alexandre Giquello, president of the leading auction house Drouot.The raid -- which saw some 2,000 people evacuated from the museum -- is thought to have been carried out by an experienced team, possibly "foreigners", Nunez has said.The intervention of museum staff forced the thieves to flee, leaving behind some of the equipment used in the raid, the culture ministry said.It was the first theft from the Louvre since 1998, when a painting by Camille Corot was stolen and never seen again.France's museums have previously come under criticism for poor security, with many viewed as being less secure than banks and seemingly increasingly targeted by thieves.Last month, criminals broke into Paris's Natural History Museum, making off with gold samples worth $700,000.The same month, thieves stole two dishes and a vase from a museum in the central city of Limoges, the losses estimated at $7.6 million.

Thieves struck after museum opened its doors to publicRaid took just four minutes, culture minister saysCrane mounted on truck used to break upstairs window Thieves broke into Paris' Louvre museum by using a crane and smashing an upstairs window on Sunday, stealing priceless jewellery from an area that houses the French crown jewels before escaping on motorbikes, the French government said. The robbery is likely to raise awkward questions about security at the museum, where officials had already sounded the alarm about lack of investment at a world-famous site that welcomed 8.7 million visitors in 2024. The thieves struck at about 9.30am (0730 GMT) when the museum had already opened its doors to the public, and entered the Galerie d'Apollon building, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. The robbery took around four minutes, Culture Minister Rachida Dati told TF1, and it was carried out by professionals. "We saw some footage: they don't target people, they enter calmly in four minutes, smash display cases, take their loot, and leave. No violence, very professional," she said on TF1. She said one piece of jewellery had been recovered outside the museum, apparently dropped as they made their escape. Dati declined to say what the item was, but newspaper Le Parisien said it was believed to be the crown of Napoleon III's wife, Empress Eugénie. The jewel was broken, the newspaper said. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told France Inter that three or four thieves got into the museum from outside using a crane that was positioned on a truck. "They broke a window, headed to several display cases and stole jewels ... which have a real historical, priceless value," Nunez said. A video posted on X by a museum guide showed visitors filing towards exits in the middle of their tour, initially unaware of the reason for the disruption. Nunez said a probe had been opened, with a specialized police unit that has a high success rate in cracking high-profile robberies such as this one tasked with running it. No injuries were reported, Dati said. The Louvre, the world's most-visited museum and home to Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, said on X it would remain closed for the day for "exceptional reasons". In one of the most daring art thefts in history, the Mona Lisa was stolen from the museum in 1911 in a heist involving a former employee. He was eventually caught and the painting was returned to the museum two years later. Earlier this year, officials at the Louvre requested urgent help from the French government to restore and renovate the museum's ageing exhibition halls and better protect its countless works of art. Dati said the issue of museum security was not new. "For 40 years, there was little focus on securing these major museums, and two years ago, the president of the Louvre requested a security audit from the police prefect. Why? Because museums must adapt to new forms of crime," she said. "Today, it's organised crime - professionals."