Two suspects in Louvre Museum heist are career criminals

Paris Public Prosecutor Laure Beccuau has released new information about two of the four suspects who have been arrested in connection with the heist of $102 million in Napoleonic jewels from the Louvre Museum last month, while denying theories that the robbery was an inside job.

A group of thieves using a truck-mounted mechanical lift broke into a second-floor window in the Galerie d’Apollon of the Louvre Museum around 9:30 a.m. local time on Sunday, after the museum had already opened its doors to the public, and stole $102 million of Napoleonic jewels before speeding off on motorcycles.

Interpol later added the jewels, which included items once owned by Queen Marie-Amélie and Queen Hortense, Empress Marie-Louise and Empress Eugénie, to its Stolen Works of Art database.

The Parquet de Paris first announced that two suspects were arrested on October 25, a week after the October 19 heist. One of them, a 34-year-old Algerian man, was preparing to leave the country from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport at the time he was detained. Both of those suspects have partially admitted their involvement.

French authorities on Saturday revealed five new arrests were made in connection with the case on October 29, three of which were later released from police custody.

The other two suspects were described as a 37-year-old man and a 38-year-old woman, who have been hit with criminal charges. Both have denied involvement in the heist.

The man, known to authorities for previous thefts, was charged with organized theft and criminal conspiracy. He asked for extra time before a court hearing when a judge will decide whether to keep him in pre-trial detention. He has been temporarily remanded back into custody until that hearing.

The second, a 38-year-old woman, was charged with complicity in organized theft and criminal conspiracy and has been ordered to be placed in pre-trial detention until her trial. She was reported by French media to be the girlfriend of one of the suspected robbers.

In total, three of the four people believed to have participated in the heist have been arrested. At least one person is still being sought by authorities.

Beccuau, speaking to France Info Radio on Sunday, revealed that two of the suspects who have been arrested were previously involved together in another theft case in Paris in 2015.

One of those was the 37-year-old man, who she said has 11 previous convictions for aggravated theft and traffic offenses. He was described by Beccuau as a “multifaceted criminal.” The other involved in the 2015 theft with him has 15 convictions, including for aggravated theft.

But Beccuau suggested the men are locals from Seine-Saint-Denis and not associated with organized crime, indicating that the Louvre Museum heist was not conducted by professional art thieves.

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