Prosecutors said the suspects will be charged with organized gang theft and conspiracy.
Two men arrested in connection with a jewelry heist at France’s Louvre Museum will be charged with theft and criminal conspiracy after “partially pleading guilty to the charges,” Paris prosecutor Laure Becuaux announced.
Mr Bequo told a press conference on Wednesday that the suspects will appear before a magistrate to face charges of “organized theft” (sentence of 15 years in prison) and criminal conspiracy (sentence of 10 years). The jewelry stolen on Oct. 19 “has not yet been recovered,” Bequo said.
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Two suspects in the Louvre jewel heist have “partially” admitted to taking part in the robbery and are believed to be the men who forced their way into the world’s most-visited museum, Paris prosecutors said on Monday.
Baekou said the two suspects had been preliminarily charged with theft and conspiracy by an organized crime group and were expected to be remanded in interim custody. She did not elaborate on the details of their comments.
It took thieves less than eight minutes to steal jewelery worth 88 million euros ($102 million), shocking the world. The robbers broke open the window, cut into the case with a power tool, and fled with the gun. rayhfrench crown jewels t pieces.
One of the suspects is a 34-year-old Algerian national who has lived in France since 2010, Becuaux said. He was arrested at Charles de Gaulle airport on Saturday night as he was heading to Algeria without a return ticket. He lived in Aubervilliers, a suburb north of Paris, and was known to police mainly for road traffic offences, Becuaux said.
The other suspect, 39, was arrested Saturday night at his home, also in Aubervilliers.
“There is no evidence to suggest he was trying to leave the country,” Bequo said. She added that the man was known to police for multiple thefts, and his DNA was found on one of the glass cases where jewelry was displayed and on items left behind by the thieves.
Prosecutors had a late Wednesday deadline to indict the suspects, release them and apply for a judge’s extension.
The jewels have not yet been recovered.
The jewels have not yet been recovered, Bequo said.
“These jewels, of course, cannot be sold now…anyone who buys them will be charged with concealing stolen goods,” she warned. “There’s still time to return them.”
Earlier on Wednesday, French police admitted major flaws in the Louvre’s defenses, turning the theft of a dazzling sunbeam into a national responsibility for how France protects its treasures.
Paris Police Chief Patrice Faure told senators that aging systems and slow fixes left museums vulnerable.
“No technological steps have been taken,” he said, noting that some video networks are still analog, producing low-quality images that are slow to share in real time.
The long-promised renovation “will not be completed until 2029-2030,” he said.
Fauré also revealed that the Louvre’s permit to operate surveillance cameras secretly expired in July and was not renewed. Some see this as a procedural flaw and a symbol of widespread negligence.
The police chief said officers “arrived very quickly” after the theft occurred, but added that there were early response delays, from initial discovery to museum security, emergency calls and police command.
Fauré and his team said the first call to police did not come from the Louvre’s alarm system, but from a cyclist who had seen a helmeted man riding a basket lift outside.
Within 24 hours of the Louvre robbery, a museum in eastern France discovered vandalized display cases and reported the theft of gold and silver coins.
Last month, thieves broke into the Paris Museum of Natural History and stole more than $1.5 million worth of gold bullion. A Chinese woman was arrested and charged with theft.
