Paris, Oct 29 (EFE). - The lawyer for one of the two detainees in connection with the theft at the Louvre on October 19, Nadia El Bouroumi, explains that her client is starting to feel the 'pressure' and is only now realizing the seriousness of the case.
'He is devastated, sincerely devastated because, indeed, I think he is realizing that it is very complicated, it is a difficult matter,' the lawyer told the TF1 television chain this Wednesday, the day on which the two suspects were to be brought before the court upon the expiry of the maximum police detention period.
This is the first statement to the press from the side of the detainees since they were captured on Saturday night when one of them was trying to leave France by plane, allegedly to Algeria.
The lawyer indicated that this case is a national-level problem and that her client is detained 'perhaps without measuring what is at stake and, in any case, feeling the pressure.'
The Prosecutor's Office confirmed the arrests last Sunday after they were leaked to the press, but regretted the 'hasty' dissemination of this information and stated that it would only give more details after the police detention period ended.
Consequently, the Paris prosecutor called a press conference for this afternoon, in the presence of members of the security forces leading the investigation, to reveal more details of this high-profile case.
The detainees are two men in their thirties, one of Malian origin and the other of Algerian-French descent, who were arrested on Saturday night after one of them attempted to leave the country via Charles de Gaulle Airport.
Both were allegedly part of the command of four assailants who carried out the theft because, according to investigation leaks published in the press, their DNA was found at the scene.
However, there is no information on the whereabouts of the loot, consisting of several French Crown jewels valued at 88 million euros, although their heritage value is incalculable.
Photo EFE
