By Rachel Roberts
Two men have been charged after partially admitting to their roles in the brazen heist of the crown jewels from the Louvre Museum in Paris on Oct. 19.
Both men were known to the authorities through previous offenses and both had been working as delivery drivers, Prosecutor Laure Beccuau said at a press conference. She added that a 34-year-old man was arrested at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday at the Charles de Gaulle airport as he was about to board a flight to his native Algeria.
The second man, a 39-year-old France native, was arrested near his home at 8:40 p.m. on Saturday and showed no signs of preparing to leave the country, the prosecutor said.
Illegally Working as Taxi Driver
The 34-year-old was known to police through driving offenses and had lived in France since 2010, while the older suspect was known to authorities for theft. He also told police he had been working illegally as a taxi driver and that he had previously worked as a delivery driver.
Two other participants in the heist have not been arrested and the jewels have not been recovered.
The thieves left behind a number of items, including gloves and a high-visibility jacket. Investigators believe that two of the men wore the bright yellow jackets to make themselves look like construction workers.
Multiple agencies and more than 100 special investigators have been involved in the fast-moving investigation.
The two suspects were identified through DNA, the prosecutor said, after investigators removed more than 150 trace samples from the scene of the crime, which took place in broad daylight while the museum was open.
The pair face preliminary charges of theft committed by an organized gang and criminal conspiracy.
At this point, there is no evidence to suggest that the robbery was an inside job, Beccuau told reporters.
It took the gang of four less than eight minutes to steal the Napoleonic-era jewels, valued at 88 million euros ($102 million) and described as “priceless” to France in terms of their cultural significance.
It is feared the jewels may never be recovered because they are “completely unsellable” in their existing form, according to Drouot auction house President Alexandre Giquello. The jewels would need to be remade into unrecognizable jewelry to be sold on the gold and gemstones markets, experts have said.
“I want to remain hopeful that the jewels will be found and they can be brought back to the Louvre, and more broadly to the nation,” Beccuau said.
Truck Stolen in House Move
The gang used a stolen truck with a lift normally used in construction or for moving furniture to break into the Apollo Gallery. Angle-grinders were used to force open the glass display cases housing the treasures.
Beccuau said the truck was stolen on Oct. 10, when its owner was attacked during a house move.
Two of the thieves were captured on film descending from the gallery in the basket lift, before all four members of the gang sped off towards eastern Paris, initially on high-speed scooters.
The men tried to set fire to the truck after the theft, but were prevented from doing so by the arrival of security guards, Beccuau said.
The prosecutor did not respond directly to questions from the media about the involvement of people outside the known four, but said officials could not exclude the possibility that the gang was working to order.
Beccuau said CCTV around Paris as well as the museum had been extensively examined as part of the investigation.
No visitors were directly threatened or harmed during the robbery, the prosecutor said, although 20 had been interviewed as part of the investigation.
Analog Cameras
Prior to Wednesday’s press conference, French police acknowledged major gaps in the security of the world’s most visited museum, which recently attracted up to 9 million visitors per year.
Paris Police Chief Patrice Faure told Senate lawmakers that out-of-date systems and slow-moving fixes left weak spots in the museum, which has been the target of numerous thefts in the past.
“A technological step has not been taken,” he said, noting that parts of the video network are still analog rather than digital, producing lower-quality images that are slow to share in real time.
A long-promised $93 million revamp, requiring roughly 60 kilometers (37 miles) of new cabling, is not expected to be finished before 2029 or 2030, he said.
The two detained suspects will appear before a magistrate on charges of theft and criminal conspiracy, where they will enter a plea, Beccuau said, without giving a date.
The prosecutor told journalists that organized theft carries a 15-year prison sentence in France, while criminal conspiracy is punishable by up to 10 years.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
