TWO suspects arrested over the brazen Louvre heist have “partially confessed” to carrying out the raid – but refuse to hand over the stolen loot.
It comes after the daring October 19 robbery in which hooded thugs made off with priceless treasures after breaking into the iconic Paris museum.
The two detainees, both men in their 30s, were arrested on Saturday; one of them was about to fly to Algeria before being handcuffed at Charles de Gaulle airport.
The other was also reportedly planning to leave France and had plotted to flee to Mali.
Paris Prosecutor Laure Beccuau said: “I want to remain hopeful that [the jewels] “They will be found and can be returned to the Louvre and, more broadly, to the nation.”
Thieves stole eight precious pieces worth an estimated £76 million, exposing major security breaches when they broke into the world’s most visited museum.
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Beccuau also addressed growing fears that the theft was an inside job.
But he downplayed speculation, saying there was “no evidence that the thieves benefited from domestic help.”
It comes as authorities have little time left to charge or release the two suspects before 96 hours. deadline expires
The police admitted that there were major gaps in the Louvre’s security operations.
They also revealed that the Louvre’s authorization to operate its security cameras expired in July and had not been renewed.
Authorities confirmed that the first person to alert authorities about the historic theft this month was not museum security, but a cycling passerby.
It comes after police matched some of the 150 DNA samples left at the crime scene to find and arrest the two “hired” thieves last weekend.
Both men, had they left the country, would have been able to evade prosecution since neither nation has an extradition agreement with France.
Police had the suspects under surveillance in hopes of leading them to the other thieves and the stolen jewelry.
But after one of the men headed to the airport around 10pm on Saturday, police intervened and detained the man before he could escape.
A police source said: “There was a coordinated operation by armed officers to arrest the man, who was well known to the authorities.
Was the Louvre heist an inside job?
By Sayan Bosé
It may have taken more than pure genius and a stroke of luck to pull off a heist that is now the center of the world’s attention.
Investigators believe the brazen Louvre heist, in which a group of thugs stole historic crown jewels worth £76million, was an inside job.
Chainsaw-wielding raiders scaled the side of the world’s most visited gallery before smashing open a window to break in and steal the precious jewels – all in just seven minutes.
Paris police have now said they have found digital forensic evidence that a member of the museum’s security team was in contact with the thugs.
A source said The telegraph: “We have found digital forensic evidence that shows that there was cooperation with one of the museum’s security guards and the thieves.
“Confidential information about the museum’s security was passed on, so they found out about the breach.”
The thieves took a forklift to the museum and climbed the façade in the basket to break into the gilded Galerie d’Apollon, where the jewels were kept in display cases.
“This action was considered an emergency, despite hopes that the men would lead those watching them to the stolen jewels.”
More than 100 specialized officers, including specialized detectives from the French version of the FBI, have been working on the investigation.
Paris police are still desperately trying to hunt down the eight pieces of priceless jewelery stolen in the daylight robbery.
There are growing fears that the jewels have been stolen to be melted down, reshaped and sold around the world to the ultra-rich via the black market, where they will likely never be seen again.
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The thieves, described as a “highly organized commando unit”, were last seen disappearing on two Yamaha mopeds around the French capital.
Stunning footage showed the daring thieves escaping down the crane with their stolen loot.
