{"id":536162,"date":"2025-10-29T20:40:16","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T20:40:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/536162\/"},"modified":"2025-10-29T20:40:16","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T20:40:16","slug":"louvre-suspects-partially-admit-their-role-in-jewel-heist-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/536162\/","title":{"rendered":"Louvre suspects \u2018partially admit\u2019 their role in jewel heist | France"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two men arrested on suspicion of stealing crown jewels worth an estimated \u20ac88m (\u00a376m)<\/a> from the Louvre in Paris have \u201cpartially admitted\u201d their role in the heist, the prosecutor has said, but police are no closer to recovering the gems.<\/p>\n

Laure Beccuau said the pair, arrested on Sunday<\/a>, would be brought before magistrates \u201cwith a view to being charged with organised theft, which carries a 15-year prison sentence, and criminal conspiracy, punishable by 10 years\u201d.<\/p>\n

Beccuau told a media conference on Wednesday, hours before the two men had to be either charged or released, that the jewels \u201care not in our possession\u201d. But, in an apparent appeal to the thieves, she added: \u201cThere is still time to give them back.\u201d<\/p>\n

There has been a heavy police presence outside the museum since the heist. Photograph: Abdul Saboor\/Reuters<\/p>\n

The treasures were \u201cclearly unsellable\u201d as they were, she said. \u201cAnyone who buys them would be guilty of concealment of stolen goods,\u201d she told journalists, adding she \u201cwould like to hope\u201d they would be recovered \u201cfor the Louvre and for the nation\u201d.<\/p>\n

The four-man gang pulled up outside the world\u2019s most visited museum at about 9.30am on 19 October in a stolen furniture removal truck fitted with an extending ladder and lift, in which two climbed to the ornate first-floor Apollo gallery.<\/p>\n

Wearing hi-vis vests to resemble maintenance workers, they smashed an unsecured window and used disc cutters to slice open two glass display cases before descending in the bucket lift and fleeing on motorbikes driven by the other two men.<\/p>\n

The heist lasted less than seven minutes, with the two who entered the gallery spending three minutes and 58 seconds inside. They dropped a diamond and emerald-studded crown but fled with eight richly gem-encrusted pieces.<\/p>\n

The stolen jewels included an emerald and diamond necklace that Napoleon I gave to his second wife, Marie Louise, and a diadem set with 212 pearls and nearly 2,000 diamonds that had once belonged to the empress Eug\u00e9nie, wife of Napoleon III.<\/p>\n

Beccuau said the two suspects \u2013 both of whom were arrested last Saturday night, one at Charles de Gaulle airport outside Paris<\/a>, reportedly as he was trying to catch a flight to Algeria \u2013 were believed to be the men who had entered the Apollo gallery.<\/p>\n

Their DNA had been found on a display case and a scooter used in the getaway, the prosecutor said. She added that it was possible that the gang had numbered more than four men, but there was no indication so far it had benefited from inside help.<\/p>\n

Beccuau said one of the suspects, an Algerian national, was aged 34, had lived in France<\/a> since 2010, and was known to police for road traffic offences. The second was aged 39, born in the Paris suburb of Aubervilliers, and had convictions for burglary.<\/p>\n

The prosecutor said 100 investigators from France\u2019s BRB organised crime squad and a unit specialising in trafficked artworks and cultural goods were \u201cworking every day of the week, day and night, in an effort to identify the thieves and recover the jewels\u201d.<\/p>\n

Investigations were continuing, she said, adding that there was still \u201cplenty of evidence to be examined\u201d. She declined to give any details about the two suspects who remain at large.<\/p>\n

Earlier on Wednesday, police acknowledged serious shortcomings in the Louvre\u2019s security. The Paris police chief, Patrice Faure, told senators that ageing systems and delays to planned upgrades meant \u201ca technological step has not been taken\u201d.<\/p>\n

A planned \u20ac80m (\u00a370m) security improvement programme would not be completed before the end of the decade, Faure said. The museum\u2019s director, Laurence des Cars, had previously acknowledged security blindspots<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Des Cars said the only external security camera installed near the Apollo gallery was pointing in the wrong direction to cover the window. The museum this week transferred some precious jewels to the Bank of France, RTL Radio reported.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two men arrested on suspicion of stealing crown jewels worth an estimated \u20ac88m (\u00a376m) from the Louvre in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":536163,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[13,12,14],"class_list":{"0":"post-536162","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115459393137149345","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=536162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536162\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/536163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=536162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=536162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=536162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}