A WOMAN charged over the £76million Louvre jewels heist appeared in court teary-eyed – as three of her alleged accomplices were released.
The 38-year-old suspect wept as she pleaded with authorities – claiming she feared for “her children” and herself.
She is one of seven people who have been arrested over the brazen daylight raid on the iconic Paris museum last month.
The female detainee has been charged with complicity in organised theft and criminal conspiracy with a view to committing a crime.
It comes after two suspects were arrested after “partially confessing” to being involved in the robbery on Wednesday.
Later that same day, five more people were arrested in coordinated raids.
But only two from the fresh batch of arrests were charged – while three others were released.
The charged woman was living in La Courneuve, Seine-Saint-Denis, in the French capital at the time of the raid.
The female suspect’s lawyer said his client “vehemently” denied the charges and was “devastated” by the claims made against her.
He said: “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.”
Police are still yet to locate any of the stolen loot.
It comes after the would-be-buyer of the priceless French jewels was revealed.
The gang-of-four who carried out the daring raid reportedly approached Israeli security company CGI Group to offer them part of the looted crown jewels.
The four people who have now been charged over involvement in the historic robbery includes a “prime suspect”.
DNA evidence on one of the men is said to be linked to the crime scene – making him prosecutors’ number one target.
Last Saturday, two of the men were charged when they “partially admitted” their involvement in the heist to cops when interrogated.
Beccuau said the detainees face up to 15 years in prison for “organised robbery in a gang”.
On October 19, thugs with chainsaws scaled the side of the world’s most visited gallery before opening a window to enter and steal the precious jewels.
It took just seven minutes to enter the building, steal the jewels and then flee.
The thieves grabbed nine glittering pieces from the Napoleon and Empress Joséphine collection – but dropped one as they sped off on mopeds through central Paris.
It comes amid serious fears that the jewels had been stolen so they could be sold off around the globe to the rich and wealthy via the black market, where they will likely never be seen again.
Robbers often prefer items that can be broken up, melted or made smaller, which can also be converted into cash – such as the jewels.
This is because things like crowns and diamonds can easily be broken apart and sold into several bits.
It is possible that they have already been cut up, melted down or even sold in full.
Laurence des Cars, the director of the museum, admitted there was a security failure and the museum “failed” to protect the irreplaceable jewels from “brutal” criminals.
“Despite our efforts, despite our hard work on a daily basis, we failed,” she said.
Stealing the attention
A GERMAN company raised eyebrows after launching a tongue-in-cheek ad campaign for their cherry picker which was used in the Louvre heist.
Furniture lift manufacturer Böcker posted a picture of the truck and wrote a shocking slogan in German that translates to “When things need to go quickly”.
Photos of a freight lift went viral as authorities began investigating the lightning-fast daylight heist.
Alexander Böcker, the managing director and third-generation owner of Böcker Maschinenwerke GmbH, said he and his wife were shocked to see that their company’s product had been misused for the brazen robbery.
But they seized the moment to launch an unexpected endorsement campaign for their truck.
The company joked that the machine pictured leading up to the Louvre’s first-floor balcony was capable of lifting “up to 400kg of treasures at 42m per minute – as quiet as a whisper”.
Mr Böcker said: “We had hoped for a bit of attention and some good humour, but the feedback was overwhelming,
“I can understand that not everyone shares this sense of humour, but the vast majority laughed heartily.”
Though he added that the freight lift is not permitted to transport humans.
“Crown jewels, yes. Thieves, no,” the owner of the German company said.
