Two of the five people arrested on Wednesday night in connection with the Louvre heist have been charged, the Paris prosecutor’s office said in a statement on Saturday, as the frantic search to recover the prized jewelry continued.
One was charged with organized theft, while the other was charged with complicity in that crime. Each was also charged with criminal conspiracy.
That seemed to align with an assessment shared earlier this week by the Paris prosecutor overseeing the investigation, Laure Beccuau. Ms. Beccuau told RTL, a French radio station, that one of the suspects was believed to have been among the thieves at the scene. She mentioned DNA evidence linking the suspect to the crime scene.
The prosecutor’s office did not provide the names or genders of the two people charged, saying only that one was 37 years old and the other 38. According to Agence France-Presse, the French news agency, the 38-year-old suspect is a woman.
“During their police custody hearings, both individuals denied any involvement in the events, maintaining this position during their initial court appearances,” the prosecutor’s office added in the statement.
The other three people who had been arrested on Wednesday were released without prosecution.
“In these cases of organized crime, we notice that the waves of arrests look more like drifting nets,” said Sofia Bougrine, a lawyer representing one of those arrested and released.
On Oct. 25, police arrested two men alleged to have participated in stealing the jewels. While in custody, they partially admitted to the crime and were charged on Wednesday, the Paris prosecutor said at a news conference. They were each charged with theft by an organized gang and with criminal conspiracy, and they face a 15-year prison sentence.
One of the two men is a 34-year-old Algerian native who has lived in France since 2010. He was caught by the police at Charles de Gaulle Airport, near Paris, with a one-way ticket to Algeria. The other, a 39-year-old French native, was arrested in Aubervilliers, a suburban town in northern Paris.
None of the seven people arrested by the police so far has been named.
About 100 investigators have been working on solving the sensational case since the morning of Oct. 19, when two thieves used disc grinders to break through the window of the museum’s Apollo Gallery, where some of France’s royal jewels are displayed.
They left with eight pieces of jewelry worth more than $100 million and quickly escaped with two accomplices, who waited for them outside on high-powered motor scooters.
The brazen heist shocked the world, putting pressure on French officials and the management of the Louvre to account for the security breach.
“It’s a failure, it’s a security failure, and more broadly, it’s a failure for everyone,” Rachida Dati, the French culture minister, said in an interview with the French TV channel TF1 on Friday.
After the heist, she requested an administrative investigation, which found that the museum’s safety apparatus was underequipped and that its emergency protocols were outdated.
“For more than 20 years, the risk of intrusion and theft has been structurally underestimated,” Ms. Dati said.
She asked Laurence des Cars, the head of the Paris museum, to put several emergency measures in place, including the creation of a security and safety department and the installation of anti-intrusion devices outside the museum. She also requested that an audit be conducted before the end of the year.
Ségolène Le Stradic is a reporter and researcher covering France.
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