PARIS — Two more suspects were charged on Saturday in the Louvre jewel heist case, three days after their arrests. A total of four people are now being held and charged with stealing $100 million worth of royal jewels from the Paris museum two weeks ago.
The jewels are still missing.
The prosecutor said in a statement on Saturday that two of the five people who were arrested on Wednesday have been charged. One, a 37-year-old alleged to be part of the four-man team that police believe carried out the heist, has been charged with organized theft and criminal conspiracy. Prosecutor Laure Beccuau said he was already known to judicial authorities. The other, a 38-year-old woman, has been charged with complicity in preparing the crime.
Two other men, also alleged to be a part of the foursome, were arrested a week ago. They have also been charged with organized theft and criminal conspiracy.
The man and woman charged on Saturday were found through DNA and cell phone records, the prosecutor said.
The other three who were arrested but not charged this week have since been released from custody.
The two new suspects deny any involvement in the crime.
Adrien Sorrentino, a lawyer for the 38-year-old woman, told reporters "she is devastated" by the accusations and is contesting the charges.
Of the other two suspects charged, one was picked up at Charles de Gaulle Airport where he prepared to leave the country with a one-way ticket to Algeria. The other was arrested at his home in the Paris suburb of Aubervilliers. The first two male suspects, who had criminal records for theft, immediately came under police surveillance when their DNA was found on objects left at the crime scene. The prosecutor said police were forced to arrest them prematurely because one was about to leave the country.
Those two suspects have "partially admitted" to the theft, according to Beccuau.
The brazen jewel heist, which took place in broad daylight, has shocked France. The thieves pulled a moving truck with an extendable ladder up to a wing of the museum. Wearing reflective vests to look like maintenance workers, they climbed the ladder to the balcony of the Apollon wing, broke the window and entered.
They used a circular saw to cut into glass cases holding the jewels. A Louvre guard filmed them during the theft. The men climbed back down the ladder and sped away on two motor bikes driven by the two other accomplices. The whole operation took less than 10 minutes.
In their chaotic haste to leave the scene of the crime the thieves left behind many items: a motorcycle helmet, a circular saw, a glove, a gas can, a walkie talkie and a reflective vest.
Since their arrest, less than a week after the crime, a portrait of bunglers instead of sophisticated thieves has emerged.
The incident has sparked a debate about security at the Louvre, the most-visited museum in the world. Louvre Director Laurence Des Cars, who testified in front of a parliamentary commission, admitted that only a third of the museum's wings are under video surveillance, and that the camera on the balcony where the thieves broke in was not pointed towards the balcony.
On Friday, Culture Minister Rachida Dati unveiled the initial findings of an investigation by inspectors of cultural affairs. It was highly critical, reporting what it called a "chronic, structural underestimation of the risk of intrusion and theft at the Louvre for the last 20 years."
Making up for the lax security is fast police work. Many French people have been impressed by their speedy apprehensions — among them, bookseller Karim Antille, whose Seine river book stand is right across the street from that fateful balcony.
"Our police are very strong," he said. "It's not good to steal, but don't touch our cultural heritage."
Many feel it's a race against time to find the jewels before they can be dismantled or taken out of the country, or both.
In a press conference on Wednesday, prosecutor Beccuau said she still held hope that the jewels would be returned to the Louvre and the nation.
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