Two suspects in Louvre jewel heist admit involvement, says Paris prosecutor

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’s most visited museum, a Paris prosecutor said.

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.

They have “partially” admitted their participation in the robbery, she said.

At least two other accomplices are at large.

Ms Beccuau declined to provide details about the suspects’ statements to investigators because she said accomplices may listen.

It took thieves less than eight minutes to steal the jewels valued at 88 million euros (£77.5 million) on October 19, 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.

The two men arrested on Saturday night “are suspected of being the ones who broke into the Apollo Gallery to steal the jewels”, Ms Beccuau said.

One suspect is a 34-year-old Algerian national who has been living in France since 2010, she said.

He was arrested on Saturday night at Charles de Gaulle airport as he was about to fly to Algeria with no return ticket.

He was living in Paris’s northern suburb of Aubervilliers and was known to police mostly for road traffic offences, Ms Beccuau said.

His DNA was found on one of the scooters used by robbers to leave the scene, she said.

The other suspect, 39, was arrested on Saturday night at his home in Aubervilliers.

“There is no evidence to suggest that he was about to leave the country,” Ms Beccuau said.

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.

Prosecutors had faced a late Wednesday deadline to charge the suspects, release them or seek a judge’s extension.

Video surveillance cameras showed there were at least four criminals involved, Ms Beccuau said.

The four suspected robbers arrived onboard a truck equipped with a freight lift that two of them used to climb up to the museum’s window.

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.

Ms Beccuau said nothing suggests that the robbers had any accomplices within the museum’s staff.

The jewels have not been recovered, she said.

“These jewels are now, of course, unsellable… Anyone who buys them would be guilty of concealment of stolen goods,” Ms Beccuau warned.

“It’s still time to give them back.”

Earlier on Wednesday, Paris police acknowledged major gaps in the Louvre’s defences – turning the dazzling daylight theft into a national reckoning over how France protects its treasures.

Paris police chief Patrice Faure told Senate legislators that ageing systems and slow-moving fixes left weak seams in the museum.

“A technological step has not been taken,” 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.

A long-promised revamp – a 93 million dollar (£70 million) project requiring roughly 60 kilometres (37 miles) of new cabling – “will not be finished before 2029–2030″, he said.

Mr Faure also disclosed that the Louvre’s authorisation to operate its security cameras quietly expired in July and was not renewed – a paperwork lapse that some see as a symbol of broader negligence.

“Officers arrived extremely fast,” Mr Faure said, but he added the lag occurred earlier in the chain – from first detection, to museum security, to the emergency line, to police command.

Mr Faure and his team said the first alert to police came not from the Louvre’s alarms but from a cyclist outside who dialled the emergency line after seeing helmeted men with a basket lift.

The theft has also exposed an insurance blind spot: officials say the jewels were not privately insured.

The French state self-insures its national museums, because premiums for covering priceless heritage are astronomically high – meaning the Louvre will receive no payout for the loss.

The financial blow, like the cultural wound, is total.

Mr Faure pushed back on quick fixes.

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.

“I am firmly opposed,” Mr Faure said.

“The issue is not a guard at a door; it is speeding the chain of alert.”

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.

The October 19 heist was swift and simple.

In the morning rush, thieves reached the jewel gallery near streetside windows, cut through reinforced cases and vanished in minutes.

Former bank robber David Desclos told The Associated Press the operation was textbook and vulnerabilities were glaringly obvious in the layout of the gallery.

Culture minister Rachida Dati, under pressure, has stayed defensive – refusing the Louvre director’s resignation and insisting alarms worked while acknowledging “security gaps did exist”.

She has kept details to a minimum, citing ongoing investigations.

The reckoning lands at a museum already under strain.

In June, the Louvre shut in a spontaneous staff strike – including security agents – over unmanageable crowds, chronic understaffing and “untenable” conditions.

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.

Mr Faure said police will now track surveillance-permit deadlines across institutions to prevent repeats of the July lapse.

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 – before a scooter disappears into Paris traffic and diamonds into history.

Experts fear the stolen pieces may already be broken down and stones recut to erase their past – a prospect that adds urgency to France’s debate over how it guards what the world comes to see.