Louvre heist suspects 'partially admit' involvement, stolen jewels still missing

By Alessandro Parodi

PARIS (Reuters) -Two men arrested on suspicion of stealing jewels from the Louvre Museum have "partially admitted" their involvement in the daylight heist but the precious pieces remain missing, the Paris prosecutor said on Wednesday.

Four hooded thieves made off with their booty after breaking into the Louvre's Apollo gallery, home to the French Crown Jewels, during opening hours on the morning of October 19, exposing security lapses at the world's most-visited museum.

Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said the two men in detention were suspected of breaking into the museum through an upstairs window, while two accomplices waited on the street below.

"Both have partially admitted their involvement to investigators," she told a press conference.

"We do not rule out the possibility of a larger group, including a person who commissioned the theft and may have been the intended recipient of the stolen jewels," Beccuau added.

There is no evidence at this stage in the investigation to suggest the heist was an inside job, she said.

"The jewels are not yet in our possession. But I want to remain hopeful that they will be found and returned to the Louvre Museum."

ORGANISED THEFT CHARGES

The two detained men were arrested on Saturday after being identified through DNA traces left at the crime scene.

One of them, a 34-year-old unemployed Algerian national living in France since 2010, was detained by police as he tried to board a flight to Algeria. The other man, 39, was already under judicial supervision in an aggravated theft case, Beccuau said.

Both men live in Aubervilliers, a low-income neighbourhood in the deprived suburbs of northern Paris.

Beccuau said investigators would be asking magistrates to place the two men under formal investigation on suspicion of multiple organised theft offences. Being placed under formal investigation in France does not imply guilt or necessarily lead to trial but shows judicial authorities consider there is enough evidence to pursue a preliminary probe.

The thieves stole eight precious pieces worth an estimated $102 million from the Louvre's collection on October 19 before escaping on motorbikes.

They used an elevator truck stolen in the town of Louvres in Val-d'Oise, near Paris, two weeks before the heist, to access an outside balcony before smashing a window, the prosecutor said.

The museum's cameras failed to detect the intrusion swiftly enough to prevent the robbery, which took between six to seven minutes.

The security shortcomings have forced the museum to transfer some of its most precious jewels to the Bank of France under secret police escort, according to French radio RTL.

News of the robbery reverberated around the world, prompting soul-searching in France over what some viewed as a national humiliation.

(Additional reporting by Inti Landauro, Sudip Kar-Gupta and GV De Clercq;Editing by Richard Lough and Gareth Jones)