Police hunt suspects in Dresden jewellery heist

Police in Germany were yesterday hunting robbers who snatched priceless 18th-century jewellery from a state museum in Dresden in what local media have called the biggest art heist in modern history. Authorities across eastern Germany have been put on alert after thieves made off with treasures from the Green Vault at Dresden’s Royal Palace in an astonishing smash-and-grab raid early Monday morning.

Police have called for witnesses to step forward and released images of the stolen items, which were taken from a collection of jewellery of 18th-century Saxony ruler Augustus the Strong and which experts say may never be recovered. They include a sword whose hilt is encrusted with nine large and 770 smaller diamonds, and a diamond bow decorated with 662 brilliants.

Extraordinary CCTV footage of the two robbers going about their raid has also been released by investigators. In the black-and-white clip, one of the two suspects was seen using an axe to smash the display case.

‘Criminal gang’

The thieves launched their brazen raid after having set off a fire in an electrical panel near the museum in the early hours of Monday, deactivating its alarm as well as street lighting, police said. Despite the power cut, a surveillance camera kept working and filmed the pair breaking in. “The whole act lasted only a few minutes,” police said in a statement. The suspects then fled in an Audi A6 and remain on the run.

The apparent getaway car was found on fire later elsewhere in the city, said police, adding that the vehicle was being examined for clues. On Monday evening, Dresden police chief Joerg Kubiessa told broadcaster ZDF that a “criminal gang” may be behind the robbery. Dresden police said they were also in contact with colleagues in Berlin to explore possible connections to a similar heist in the capital two years ago.

In 2017, a 100-kilogramme (220-pound), 24-karat giant gold coin was stolen from Berlin’s Bode Museum. Four men with links to a notorious Berlin gang were later arrested and put on trial. The coin has never been recovered, and fears are growing that the Dresden haul will also remain lost forever.

Speaking yesterday, managing director of diamond retailer 77Diamonds Tobias Kormind said that, if the thieves were not caught, the probability of finding the diamonds was “virtually nil”.