Two suspects arrested for Louvre Museum heist ‘partially admit’ involvement

According to Reuters, both men live in Aubervilliers, a low-income neighbourhood in the deprived suburbs of northern Paris.

‘Partially admitted to their involvement’

Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said the two men in detention were suspected of breaking into the museum through an upstairs window, while two accomplices waited on the street below.

“Both have partially admitted their involvement to investigators,” she said a press conference.

“We do not rule out the possibility of a larger group, including a person who commissioned the theft and may have been the intended recipient of the stolen jewels,” Beccuau added.

There is no evidence at this stage in the investigation to suggest the heist was an inside job, she said.

Heist that shocked the world

Four hooded thieves made off with their booty after breaking into the Louvre’s Apollo gallery, home to the French Crown Jewels, during opening hours on the morning of October 19.

It took them less than eight minutes to steal the jewels valued at $102 million from the world’s most visited museum, shocking the world. The robbers forced open a window, cut into cases with power tools and fled with eight pieces of the French crown jewels.

They used an elevator truck stolen in the town of Louvres in Val-d’Oise, near Paris, two weeks before the heist, to access an outside balcony before smashing a window, the prosecutor said.

Jewels still missing

Beccuau said the stolen jewels have not been recovered from the suspects.

“The jewels are not yet in our possession. But I want to remain hopeful that they will be found and returned to the Louvre Museum,” she said.

Anyone who buys them would be guilty of concealment of stolen goods,” she warned. “There’s still time to give them back.”

Beccuau said investigators would be asking magistrates to place the two men under formal investigation on suspicion of multiple organised theft offences.