Louvre robbery: two suspects partially admit guilt

Tengrinews.kz – Paris Prosecutor Laura Becco announced that two individuals arrested on Saturday evening on suspicion of involvement in the Louvre robbery have “partially admitted their guilt,” citing Euronews.

She made the statement at a press conference held the day before.

After 96 hours in police custody, the suspects were brought before an investigating judge, who charged them with “organized theft” and “criminal conspiracy.” The prosecutor requested that they be remanded in custody.

One of the suspects, a 34-year-old French-Algerian man, was arrested at Roissy Airport before boarding a flight to Algeria. He is unemployed, already known to police, and was identified through DNA traces found on one of the scooters used in the crime.

The second suspect, a 39-year-old Frenchman, was arrested in Aubervilliers and is already known to police for aggravated theft. His DNA was found on one of the broken windows.

Authorities believe two more individuals may have been involved in the burglary, though Becco did not rule out the existence of a larger organized group.

The press conference was attended by representatives of the Brigade for the Repression of Banditry (BRB) and the Central Office for the Fight Against the Illegal Trafficking of Cultural Goods (OCBC), who are leading the investigation.

“In total, around one hundred investigators worked day and night throughout the week to identify the perpetrators and recover the jewels,” the prosecutor said.

The stolen items from the world’s most famous museum include several sets of jewelry from the First and Second Empires, richly adorned with sapphires and emeralds, and are valued at €88 million.

“The jewels are not yet in our possession. I still hope they will be found and returned to the Louvre Museum and, more broadly, to the nation,” Becco added.

On October 19, the Louvre Museum was robbed within minutes. According to BFMTV, the robbers arrived on scooters, used an external freight elevator to reach the windows, smashed them, and entered the museum. They stole jewels from the collections of Napoleon and Empress Josephine, then escaped.

French President Emmanuel Macron described the Louvre robbery as an “attack on the nation’s heritage and history.” Meanwhile, Telegram founder Pavel Durov linked the heist to the “decline of once-great France” and expressed his willingness to buy back the stolen jewels.