PARIS (Reuters) -Jewels stolen from the Louvre museum in a brazen heist have not yet been found, the Paris prosecutor said on Wednesday, adding that two suspects arrested on the weekend had partially recognised their involvement in the robbery.
Four hooded thieves made off with the jewels after breaking into the Louvre on the morning of October 19, exposing security lapses at the world’s most-visited museum.
The two detained men, both in their thirties and with criminal records, were arrested on Saturday. One of them was attempting to board a flight to Algeria.
There was no evidence to suggest at this point that the robbery was an inside job, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau told a news conference.
“I want to remain hopeful that [the jewels] will be found and they can be brought back to the Louvre, and more broadly to the nation”, Beccuau said.
The thieves stole eight precious pieces worth an estimated $102 million from the Louvre’s collection on October 19, exposing security lapses as they broke into the world’s most-visited museum using a crane to smash an upstairs window during opening hours. They escaped on motorbikes.
The museum’s cameras failed to detect the intruders in time to prevent the robbery, which took between six to seven minutes and was carried out by four people who were unarmed, but who threatened the guards with angle grinders.
Security shortcomings at the Louvre 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.
(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta, Inti Landauro and Alessandro Parodi;Writing by GV De Clercq; Editing by Richard Lough)
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