{"id":152248,"date":"2025-10-29T22:38:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T22:38:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/152248\/"},"modified":"2025-10-29T22:38:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T22:38:10","slug":"two-suspects-in-louvre-jewel-heist-admit-involvement-says-paris-prosecutor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/152248\/","title":{"rendered":"Two suspects in Louvre jewel heist admit involvement, says Paris prosecutor"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two suspects in the Louvre jewel heist have admitted their involvement and are believed to be the men who forced their way into the world\u2019s most visited museum, a Paris prosecutor said.<\/p>\n

Laure Beccuau told a news conference that the two face preliminary charges of theft committed by an organised gang and criminal conspiracy, and are expected to be held in provisional detention.<\/p>\n

They have \u201cpartially\u201d admitted their participation in the robbery, she said.<\/p>\n

\"ParisParis prosecutor Laure Beccuau attends a news conference at the Paris courthouse (Emma Da Silva\/AP)\n<\/p>\n

At least two other accomplices are at large.<\/p>\n

Ms Beccuau declined to provide details about the suspects\u2019 statements to investigators because she said accomplices may listen.<\/p>\n

It took thieves less than eight minutes to steal the jewels valued at 88 million euros (\u00a377.5 million) on October 19, shocking the world.<\/p>\n

The robbers forced open a window, cut into cases with power tools and fled with eight pieces of the French crown jewels.<\/p>\n

The two men arrested on Saturday night \u201care suspected of being the ones who broke into the Apollo Gallery to steal the jewels\u201d, Ms Beccuau said.<\/p>\n

One suspect is a 34-year-old Algerian national who has been living in France since 2010, she said.<\/p>\n

He was arrested on Saturday night at Charles de Gaulle airport as he was about to fly to Algeria with no return ticket.<\/p>\n

\"PeoplePeople queue to enter Le Louvre museum in Paris (Christophe Ena\/AP)\n<\/p>\n

He was living in Paris\u2019s northern suburb of Aubervilliers and was known to police mostly for road traffic offences, Ms Beccuau said.<\/p>\n

His DNA was found on one of the scooters used by robbers to leave the scene, she said.<\/p>\n

The other suspect, 39, was arrested on Saturday night at his home in Aubervilliers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no evidence to suggest that he was about to leave the country,\u201d Ms Beccuau said.<\/p>\n

The man was known to police for several thefts, and his DNA was found on one of the glass cases where the jewels were displayed and on items the thieves left behind, she added.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors had faced a late Wednesday deadline to charge the suspects, release them or seek a judge\u2019s extension.<\/p>\n

Video surveillance cameras showed there were at least four criminals involved, Ms Beccuau said.<\/p>\n

The four suspected robbers arrived onboard a truck equipped with a freight lift that two of them used to climb up to the museum\u2019s window.<\/p>\n

\n These jewels are now, of course, unsellable… Anyone who buys them would be guilty of concealment of stolen goods<\/p>\n

Laure Beccuau, Paris prosecutor\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The four of them left onboard two motor scooters along the Seine river towards eastern Paris, where they had some other vehicles parked, she detailed.<\/p>\n

Ms Beccuau said nothing suggests that the robbers had any accomplices within the museum\u2019s staff.<\/p>\n

The jewels have not been recovered, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese jewels are now, of course, unsellable\u2026 Anyone who buys them would be guilty of concealment of stolen goods,\u201d Ms Beccuau warned.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s still time to give them back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier on Wednesday, Paris police acknowledged major gaps in the Louvre\u2019s defences \u2013 turning the dazzling daylight theft into a national reckoning over how France protects its treasures.<\/p>\n

Paris police chief Patrice Faure told Senate legislators that ageing systems and slow-moving fixes left weak seams in the museum.<\/p>\n

\u201cA technological step has not been taken,\u201d he told legislators, noting parts of the video network are even still analogue, producing lower-quality images that are slow to share in real time.<\/p>\n

A long-promised revamp \u2013 a 93 million dollar (\u00a370 million) project requiring roughly 60 kilometres (37 miles) of new cabling \u2013 \u201cwill not be finished before 2029\u20132030\u2033, he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Faure also disclosed that the Louvre\u2019s authorisation to operate its security cameras quietly expired in July and was not renewed \u2013 a paperwork lapse that some see as a symbol of broader negligence.<\/p>\n

\n The issue is not a guard at a door; it is speeding the chain of alert<\/p>\n

Patrice Faure, Paris police chief\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cOfficers arrived extremely fast,\u201d Mr Faure said, but he added the lag occurred earlier in the chain \u2013 from first detection, to museum security, to the emergency line, to police command.<\/p>\n

Mr Faure and his team said the first alert to police came not from the Louvre\u2019s alarms but from a cyclist outside who dialled the emergency line after seeing helmeted men with a basket lift.<\/p>\n

The theft has also exposed an insurance blind spot: officials say the jewels were not privately insured.<\/p>\n

The French state self-insures its national museums, because premiums for covering priceless heritage are astronomically high \u2013 meaning the Louvre will receive no payout for the loss.<\/p>\n

The financial blow, like the cultural wound, is total.<\/p>\n

Mr Faure pushed back on quick fixes.<\/p>\n

He rejected calls for a permanent police post inside the palace-museum, warning it would set an unworkable precedent and do little against fast, mobile crews.<\/p>\n

\"PolicePolice officers block an access to the Louvre museum after a robbery in Paris (Thibault Camus\/AP)\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI am firmly opposed,\u201d Mr Faure said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe issue is not a guard at a door; it is speeding the chain of alert.\u201d<\/p>\n

He urged legislators to authorise tools currently off-limits: AI-based anomaly detection and object tracking (not facial recognition) to flag suspicious movements and follow scooters or gear across city cameras in real time.<\/p>\n

The October 19 heist was swift and simple.<\/p>\n

In the morning rush, thieves reached the jewel gallery near streetside windows, cut through reinforced cases and vanished in minutes.<\/p>\n

Former bank robber David Desclos told The Associated Press the operation was textbook and vulnerabilities were glaringly obvious in the layout of the gallery.<\/p>\n

Culture minister Rachida Dati, under pressure, has stayed defensive \u2013 refusing the Louvre director\u2019s resignation and insisting alarms worked while acknowledging \u201csecurity gaps did exist\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"AA surveillance camera on a facade of the Louvre museum in Paris (Thibault Camus\/AP)\n<\/p>\n

She has kept details to a minimum, citing ongoing investigations.<\/p>\n

The reckoning lands at a museum already under strain.<\/p>\n

In June, the Louvre shut in a spontaneous staff strike \u2013 including security agents \u2013 over unmanageable crowds, chronic understaffing and \u201cuntenable\u201d conditions.<\/p>\n

Unions say mass tourism and construction pinch points create blind spots, a vulnerability underscored by thieves who rolled a basket lift to the Seine-facing facade and reached a hall displaying the crown jewels.<\/p>\n

Mr Faure said police will now track surveillance-permit deadlines across institutions to prevent repeats of the July lapse.<\/p>\n

But he stressed the larger fix is disruptive and slow: ripping out and rebuilding core systems while the palace stays open, and updating the law so police can act on suspicious movement in real time \u2013 before a scooter disappears into Paris traffic and diamonds into history.<\/p>\n

Experts fear the stolen pieces may already be broken down and stones recut to erase their past \u2013 a prospect that adds urgency to France\u2019s debate over how it guards what the world comes to see.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two suspects in the Louvre jewel heist have admitted their involvement and are believed to be the men…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":152249,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[267],"tags":[365,362,363,364,366,18,117,19,17],"class_list":{"0":"post-152248","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-artsdesign","12":"tag-design","13":"tag-eire","14":"tag-entertainment","15":"tag-ie","16":"tag-ireland"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115459857169490697","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152248\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}