Patricia Tourancheau, published On the Louvre Heist, in 2026.

Who are the “Slav gang”, Abdoulaye N. and Slimane K?PT: Very little is known about the alleged “Slavs” who are said to have approached the group of so-called treasure thieves. In any case, the suspects reportedly claimed that these individuals met them in a park two days before the burglary and proposed a job—without explicitly saying it involved the Louvre—in exchange for €15,000 for Abdoulaye. Abdoulaye states that these men, described as Eastern European individuals he did not know, provided him with a fluorescent vest and assigned him the task of driving a truck-mounted lift to reach the site. However, investigators and examining magistrates do not place much belief in this account. There are contradictions between the second suspect from the Apollo Gallery case and Abdoulaye, also known as Doudou Crosse-bitume. One version refers to a Moroccan man named Laser, before later shifting again to the “Slavs” narrative. Investigators tend to believe that these suspects are, in a way, inventing supposed “organizers” in order to downplay their own roles and present themselves as mere underlings—simple executors.

At the time of the events, Abdoulaye N. was 39 years old. He comes from a Malian family background, with a father who was polygamous, which meant he had 22 half-brothers and half-sisters. He grew up in the Landy district of Aubervilliers, one of the poorest areas in an already deprived municipality, in one of the most disadvantaged departments in France.

He left school at around 14 years old. At 16, he was arrested for a minor drug-dealing incident. At 18, he completed a short placement linked to a temporary exhibition in Aubervilliers.

(Editor’s note: Swiss artist Thomas Hirschhorn, a major figure in international contemporary art, set up his “Precarious Museum” — built from cardboard and pallets — at the foot of a public housing block in Le Landy. He achieved the feat of bringing masterpieces from the Centre Pompidou, from Marcel Duchamp to Fernand Léger, into this makeshift structure, entrusting its management to local residents, including Doudou Cross Bitume, who became the temporary guardian of the temporary museum and even learned how to handle and package artworks.)

By 2014, two more notable events marked his criminal record. In May, Abdoulaye and accomplices robbed a jewelry store in Barbès, in Paris’s 18th arrondissement, escaping on two powerful scooters.

When arrested, he later claimed the weapons were replicas. As a result, he was not tried for armed robbery before a criminal court but for........

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