American Marconi Wireless News - Woman charged over Louvre heist tears up in court

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."

- 'Like drift nets' -

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.

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A.Mahlangu--AMWN