The Paris public prosecutor’s office announced significant advancements in the investigation into the daring Louvre Museum theft that occurred on October 19. On Wednesday, authorities indicated that two individuals in custody are set to face charges of “organized robbery.”
During a press conference, Laure Beccuau, the Paris Public Prosecutor, shared updates regarding the suspects apprehended over the weekend, though noted that the stolen jewels have yet to be recovered.
Beccuau mentioned that, upon conviction, the suspects could be sentenced to as much as 15 years behind bars, along with substantial monetary penalties.
The authorities had a deadline of 96 hours, concluding on Wednesday, to either charge or release the suspects. Both individuals are known to be residents of Seine-Saint-Denis, a suburb of Paris.
In the conference, Beccuau disclosed that the suspects, detained on Saturday, have partially confessed to their roles in the incident during interrogations.
Meanwhile, efforts to locate at least two more individuals involved in the heist continued vigorously. Beccuau expressed that while the possibility of additional participants hasn’t been ruled out, current evidence does not indicate the involvement of further accomplices.
Beccuau said trace DNA recovered from a scooter used in the heist and a window at the Louvre helped investigators identify the suspects, whose names have not been released.
One man was arrested about 8 p.m. local time on Saturday at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport as he was about to leave the country without a return ticket, Beccuau said. She said the suspect has lived in France since 2010 and had been convicted of a previous robbery.
Beccuau said the second suspect is a taxi driver who was arrested at 8:40 p.m. on Saturday near his home. She said the suspect’s DNA was found on one of the windows at the Louvre.
Beccuau said the suspect had been previously convicted of “aggravated robberies” in 2008 and 2014.
Investigators previously told ABC News that the second suspect was arrested as he was about to travel to Mali, but on Wednesday, Beccuau said the man had no intention of leaving the country.
ABC News’ Tom Soufi Burridge and Joseph Simonetti contributed to this report.
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