After four days in custody, two suspects arrested in connection with the daytime jewel heist at the Musée du Louvre have “partially” admitted their involvement with the robbery, Paris prosecutor Lauren Beccuau stated during a news conference today. The remaining two suspects associated with the October 19 robbery remain at large, and Beccuau said that the stolen crown jewels, valued at over $100 million, are still missing.
Little information has been revealed about the suspects since their arrest, though Beccuau disclosed at last that the individual arrested at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris on Saturday evening was a 34-year-old man of Algerian descent who had been living in France since 2010. She noted that the man had a one-way flight ticket to Algeria and that he had been convicted of theft before, and was known to police for multiple traffic violations. Reportedly, he was unemployed at the time of the heist, but has previously worked as a garbage collector and delivery driver.
Beccuau stated that the man was identified through DNA left behind on one of the scooters used by the perpetrators.
The second individual, a 39-year-old man born in France, was detained and arrested near his home that same evening. The man was already known for two incidents of aggravated theft committed in 2008 and 2014, and, per Beccuau, is “under judicial supervision” in another aggravated theft case scheduled for trial in November at the Bobigny Criminal Court. The man reportedly told investigators he worked as a taxi driver, and has also been a delivery driver. He was identified through DNA discovered on some of the broken display cases and some objects left behind during the getaway.
Both men were said to be living in Aubervilliers, a northeastern suburb of Paris.
“They are currently being presented before the investigating magistrates for formal charges of multiple thefts committed by an organized gang, crimes punishable by up to 15 years’ imprisonment and a substantial fine,” Beccuau said of the two detained men.
He declined to provide any further information about them, as the remaining two suspects have yet to be located.
She did note that there wasn’t any evidence to suggest that the thieves had any accomplices affiliated with the Louvre, and that among the 20 or so witnesses who were within the Apollo Gallery during the robbery, none of them mentioned having been threatened. It was also revealed that two unidentified men had stolen the basket lift used during the brazen daylight heist on Friday morning, October 10, and that the fleeing suspects had attempted to set it on fire after vacating the museum as trace amounts of gasoline were detected.
Beccuau told the press she remains hopeful that the jewels will be recovered, stating that they’re “obviously unsellable” now and that anyone who would buy them would be “guilty of receiving stolen goods related to this crime.”
Hyperallergic has reached out to the prosecutor and the museum for additional comment.
​Â
