Paris: French authorities have arrested five more suspects in connection with the audacious €88 million Louvre heist, Paris public prosecutor Laure Beccuau announced on Thursday.

The arrests, made on Wednesday night across the Paris region, included a main suspect believed to be part of the four-man team that carried out the daylight robbery on 19 October. DNA evidence from one of those detained is reportedly linked to the crime scene, Beccuau told French radio station RTL.

Two of the suspects had earlier “partially confessed” to their involvement, according to AFP. They are thought to be the men who used power tools to break into the museum’s Galerie d’Apollon — home to the French crown jewels — and steal eight priceless items, including the Marie-Louise necklace, diamond earrings, and a gold tiara once worn by Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III.

The gang executed the theft in just four minutes. Arriving around 9:30 a.m., moments after the museum opened, the men used a stolen vehicle-mounted lift to reach a balcony overlooking the River Seine. They then cut open the glass display cases with a disc cutter before escaping on two scooters waiting outside, switching later to cars heading east. No one was injured during the heist.

Authorities believe the operation involved a wider network beyond the four thieves seen on CCTV. The newly arrested suspects can be held for up to four days before being charged or released.

The first two arrests were made last week. One of the men, who has a criminal record, was detained at an airport as he attempted to board a one-way flight to Algeria. Prosecutors have ruled out any involvement from museum staff, saying there is “no evidence of an inside job.”

In the aftermath of the theft — one of the most shocking in French history — security has been tightened at cultural institutions across France.

The Louvre has since moved several of its most valuable jewels to the Bank of France, where they are now stored in an underground vault 26 metres below ground.  The stolen jewels, however, remain missing.