Paris — A Paris prosecutor reported on Wednesday that investigators were making “significant progress” in solving the October 19 Louvre Museum robbery, and said two suspects in custody would be charged with “organized robbery.”
During a press conference on Wednesday, Paris prosecutor Laure Bequiau released new information about the two suspects who were arrested last weekend, but said the stolen jewelry was still missing.
If convicted, the suspects will face up to 15 years in prison and hefty fines, Bekwao said.
The 96-hour deadline to charge or release the suspects is scheduled to expire on Wednesday. Authorities said earlier that the two suspects were from the Paris suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis.
Bekwao also said in her press conference that the two suspects arrested on Saturday “partially confessed to investigators about their involvement in the events.”
A massive manhunt continued Wednesday for at least two other robbery suspects. Biko said she had not ruled out the possibility that more perpetrators were involved in the robbery, but added that at this stage, the evidence does not point to any additional accomplices.
Pekwao said traces of DNA found from a motorcycle used in the robbery and a window in the Louvre Museum helped investigators identify the suspects, whose names were not revealed.
A man was arrested around 8 p.m. local time on Saturday at Paris’s Charles de Gaulle Airport as he was about to leave the country without a return ticket, Bekou said. She added that the suspect has lived in France since 2010 and was convicted of a previous robbery.
Bekwao said the second suspect is a taxi driver who was arrested at 8:40 pm on Saturday near his home. She added that the suspect’s DNA was found on one of the windows of the Louvre Museum.
The suspect had previously been convicted of “aggravated robberies” in 2008 and 2014, Pekwao said.
Investigators previously told ABC News that the second suspect was arrested as he was about to travel to Mali, but on Wednesday, Bekouao said the man had no intention of leaving the country.
ABC News’ Tom Sophie Burridge and Joseph Simonetti contributed to this report.
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