Louvre Heist Suspect Rachid H. Stays in Custody as Jewels Remain Missing
A suspect in the Louvre jewel heist will stay in custody. On Wednesday, 21 October, the Paris Court of Appeal refused to release Rachid H., 40, so he will remain in pre-trial detention, meaning he is held until his trial. ArtNews reported the ruling.
Rachid H. has been held since November 2025. Investigators suspect he gave the robbers keys to a parking facility in Aubervilliers, a town just north of Paris. He has admitted to having "passed" keys to "two people," but he says he knew nothing about the robbery.
The raid itself was fast. On the morning of 19 October 2025, the gang used a truck with a motorised ladder to reach a second-floor window of the Apollo Gallery at the Louvre, the Paris museum. Inside, the thieves smashed two display cases and grabbed eight pieces of jewellery. A crown once owned by Empress Eugénie fell during the robbery.
The whole operation took roughly seven minutes. The thieves then escaped on two motorised scooters. The stolen jewels, worth roughly US$100 million according to ArtNews, have not been recovered.
Investigators have found no fingerprints from Rachid H. on the truck or in the car park where the robbers are alleged to have handed the jewels to an unidentified person, according to ArtNews.
The case has produced several arrests since the theft. Reuters reported in late October 2025 that two suspects had been arrested near Paris, and that one of them was about to fly to Algeria. The Paris prosecutor, the official leading the case, expressed anger at the leaking of arrest details. By 30 October 2025, police had arrested five more people linked to the theft, according to a later Reuters report.
The first two suspects to be charged were kept in custody until trial. In December 2025, Le Monde reported that a fourth alleged member of the gang had been placed in provisional detention, a short-term custody order, and that his lawyers had appealed.
For now, the jewels are still missing and the case is still open. The appeal court's ruling keeps Rachid H. behind bars while investigators continue their work.
