More details are being revealed about the suspects involved in the brazen daylight Louvre Museum heist that lasted less than eight minutes inside the world’s most-visited museum last month.
A 39-year-old French social media personality has been identified as one of the four suspects arrested and charged after the Louvre burglary, according to Le Parisien.
Abdoulaye N, known online as Doudou Cross Bitume, was detained at his home in Aubervilliers and placed in pre-trial detention. He faces preliminary charges of theft by an organized gang and criminal conspiracy.
In total, four suspects are in custody as part of the investigation, including three believed to be members of the team of four filmed using a cherry picker to reach the museum’s window and gain access.
Abdoulaye N. runs YouTube and TikTok channels under Doudou Cross Bitume. Videos show him performing tricks on motocross in Paris and Aubervilliers.
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His acquaintances told BFMTV that he is a “role model for his generation” and a “star of motorcycle stunts.”
Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said that Abdoulaye N. had been convicted in 2015 for a robbery committed in 2014, in the same theft case involving a 37-year-old, who was also arrested last week in connection with the Louvre heist.
The suspect is believed to be one of the two thieves who broke into the Apollo Gallery with power tools, cutting into display cases to steal the jewels. His DNA was reportedly found on one of the cases and on items they left behind.
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Suspect’s trial in separate case postponed
On Wednesday, a French court postponed the trial of Abdoulaye N. in a different case due to media attention and other issues that may impede the fairness of the proceedings, according to The Associated Press.
A court in Bobigny, north of Paris, said the suspect’s trial on charges of damaging public property will take place in April.
His four lawyers said the highly publicized Louvre robbery did not allow them to properly prepare for the trial.
Maxime Cavaillé, one of the lawyers, told reporters: “We’ll be extremely vigilant about several points, first of all the respect of the presumption of innocence … and the respect of [judicial] proceedings.”
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Cavaillé said they will make sure the “privacy” of their client is respected despite the “extraordinary nature” of the Louvre case. They declined to provide further details.
The prosecutor agreed the case must be judged in “serene conditions” that were not met Wednesday due to “mediatization [sic] and recent events.”
The suspect had been initially scheduled to stand trial Wednesday on minor charges of breaking a mirror and damaging the door of the prison cell where he was detained in 2019 as part of a separate theft investigation, which later cleared him.
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Beccuau said the man gave investigators “minimalist” statements and “partially admitted” his involvement in the Louvre heist.
Alleged password to Louvre’s video surveillance system
At the time of the Louvre heist on Oct. 19, the password to the museum’s video surveillance system was reportedly just “Louvre,” according to ABC News.
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French outlet Libération was the first to report the news of the alleged password and cited confidential documents. The outlet claims the password was revealed by France’s National Cybersecurity Agency in a 2014 audit.
The Louvre’s director Laurence des Cars faced questioning by a cultural committee at the French Senate last month amid questions over the museum’s security.
Des Cars said that the museum had a shortage of security cameras outside the monument and other “weaknesses” that were exposed by the thieves.
“Today we are experiencing a terrible failure at the Louvre, which I take my share of responsibility in,” she said.
“We did not detect the arrival of the thieves soon enough,” des Cars added.
She said the museum’s alarms had worked properly, but that it currently doesn’t have full video surveillance of the perimeter outside the museum, though there is a plan to provide full coverage of all the Louvre’s facades. The only camera over the Apollo Gallery, said des Cars, was facing west and didn’t capture the balcony where the break-in took place.
The Louvre urged to speed up security upgrades
France’s court of auditors urged the Louvre museum to speed up its security modernization plans as a priority in a report conducted before the heist that noted major delays in the renovation of the famous museum.
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The report by the Cour des Comptes comes after a series of failings and security issues came to light following the robbery of the $102-million worth of crown jewels that shocked the world. The thieves used a truck-mounted cherry picker to reach a window of the Apollo Gallery and fled with the trove within minutes.
“The theft of the crown jewels is undoubtedly a deafening alarm bell,” Pierre Moscovici, head of the court of auditors, said at a news conference.
Moscovici said that the heist was a “wake-up call” for museum security and pointed out that upgrades to security at the Louvre have been moving at a “woefully inadequate pace.”
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The report, focusing on the 2018-2024 period, said the museum’s investments prioritized “visible and attractive operations,” like buying new pieces of art and improving visitor experience. That was “at the expense of the maintenance and renovation of buildings and technical installations, particularly safety and security systems,” it said.
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A plan to modernize security equipment was being studied since 2018, but its implementation kept being delayed, the report said. Actual technical work was only to start next year and was planned to be fully implemented by 2032.
“The pace is far too slow,” Moscovici said.
The court of auditors, which is an independent body, believes security can be improved without hiring more staff at the museum, Moscovici added. A previous assessment shows that the theft was made possible by outdated security systems, not because of a lack of staff, he said.
The cost for security modernization is estimated to be 83 million euros ($95 million), out of which only three million euros ($3.5 million) have been invested between 2018 and 2024, according to the report.
The museum said that over the past three years, 134 digital cameras have been installed to supplement or replace outdated cameras throughout the museum, the report noted.
The court of auditors recommended that the Louvre focus on priorities, including bringing the museum’s technical facilities — particularly safety and security — up to standards, and cut expenses in other areas. That means reducing art acquisition and saving on museum rooms’ renovation projects, the report said.
In response to the audit on Thursday, the Louvre said it “regretted” that the report did not take into account the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis and the 2024 Paris Olympics, which the museum said impacted certain decisions.
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The Louvre said it agrees with most of the court of auditors’ recommendations and has already made similar proposals. It noted that the Oct. 19 theft occurred weeks before planned security improvements were to start being implemented.
— With files from The Associated Press