The cousin of one of the suspected robbers in the Louvre robbery recently said in an interview abc news.
A man named Medi told reporters that he claimed to be the cousin of a suspected Louvre robber. abc newsIn an exclusive new interview for the “Impact x Nightline” TV special, James Longman said his cousin was “doing little jobs,” “working fruit selling and stuff like that, just to make ends meet. And he had kids.”
Four suspects have been arrested in connection with last month’s robbery, one of whom is believed to be still at large. The four, one a taxi driver and the other a deliveryman and garbage collector, were arrested at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport while trying to board a one-way flight to Algeria. The other two, a man and a woman, have been identified as domestic partners and have two children; the woman was recently released by police and placed under judicial supervision on Wednesday. The thief is reported to be a local from the Paris suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis.
As the investigation into the robbery continues, the public is learning more about the identities of the suspects, including Abdoulaye N., who was identified earlier this month.
While Mehdy didn’t offer any insight Why His cousin may have robbed the Louvre, and he had some words of wisdom for him: “But if I had to tell him something before he did it, really, if he did, and I speak in a conditional way, I would tell him, you know these jewels, they belong to you, they are your inheritance, and if you want them you just go to the museum, you don’t need to go through a window or anything.”
Robbers used a cherry picker and an angle grinder to break into the Paris museum’s Apollo Gallery around 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, October 19, and stole nine pieces of jewelry worth an estimated $102 million in less than eight minutes. CCTV footage captured the thieves descending from the gallery window before fleeing the area on a motorcycle. One of the nine pieces, a diadem that once belonged to Empress Eugenie, was later discovered outside the Louvre.
At a hearing before the French Senate, Louvre museum director Laurence de Carr said the alarm worked and sounded during the robbery. But she admitted the museum’s security system was “woefully inadequate” and “outdated”.
Although the Louvre recently introduced a series of emergency security measures, the full extent of the recommended security changes “is not expected to be completed until 2032,” according to the results of a French national audit.
Just as many French saw the robbery as an attack on national pride, the theft reportedly upset Medy: “It hurts my French heritage, it hurts the story of Napoleon,” he said. Adding, “It makes me angry about my country.”
The remaining eight missing cultural relics have yet to be recovered.
