Two suspects in the Louvre robbery “partially admit” their involvement, according to the prosecutor

Two men arrested in connection with the Louvre theft two weeks ago have “partially admitted” their involvement in this brazen heist, according to officials.

The two men in custody are suspected of being the ones who used power tools to break into the museum’s Apollo gallery and steal some of the French crown jewels.

Items worth €88 million (£76 million; $102 million) were stolen from the world’s most visited museum on October 19, when four thieves broke into the building in broad daylight.

Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said the jewelry had not yet been found and the gang involved could be bigger than the four people captured on CCTV cameras.

The two men, both aged around 30, have criminal records and were identified using DNA found during the investigation, Mr. Beccuau said.

One of the men was arrested while trying to board a one-way flight to Algeria, but Beccuau said the other man had not planned to leave France, despite earlier media reports.

There is currently no evidence to suggest the theft was an inside job confirming no accomplices worked at the museum, she added.

But Beccuau said she did not rule out the possibility that it involved more than the four suspects caught on CCTV cameras, including people expecting to receive the stolen jewelry.

“I want to remain hopeful that [the jewels] will be found and can be brought back to the Louvre, and more widely to the nation,” she declared.

A crown that belonged to Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III, was abandoned by the thieves as they fled. Damage to the crown is still being assessed, Beccuau added.

During the arrests Sunday, the prosecutor criticized the “premature disclosure” of information related to the case, adding that it hampered efforts to recover the jewelry and track down the thieves.

On the day of the heist, the thieves arrived at 9:30 a.m. (0830 GMT), just after the museum opened to visitors, Beccuau said at Wednesday’s conference.

The suspects arrived with a stolen on-board mechanical elevator to access the Apollon Gallery via a balcony near the Seine. The men used a disc cutter to open the display cases housing the jewelry.

She said the thieves were inside for four minutes and fled on two scooters waiting outside at 9:38 a.m., before switching to cars and heading east.

No one was threatened during the raid, she told reporters.

Since this incident, security measures have been reinforced around French cultural institutions.

The Louvre transferred some of its most precious jewels to the Banque de France following the heist. They will now be stored in the Bank’s most secure vault, 26 meters below the ground floor of its elegant headquarters in the center of Paris.