Police are conducting raids in Berlin as part of a probe into the 2017 heist of a 100-kilogram (220-pound) gold coin from the city's Bode Museum, Der Spiegel reported on Wednesday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th December, 2020) Police are conducting raids in Berlin as part of a probe into the 2017 heist of a 100-kilogram (220-pound) gold coin from the city's Bode Museum, Der Spiegel reported on Wednesday.
The Big Maple Leaf coin was stolen from the Bode Museum in March 2017 and has not been recovered yet. Its obverse featured the profile of UK Queen Elizabeth II. Investigators believe that the coin, whose value is estimated at 3.75 million Euros ($4.6 million), has been cut into pieces and sold.
According to the German magazine, 120 law enforcement officers are being involved in searches of 14 facilities. The operation targets, among other things, several jewelry stores in Berlin's Neukolln borough. Police have already arrested one suspect.
"The chances are 50-50 that we will finally find the remains of the gold coin," one of the investigators told Spiegel tv.
The Berlin public prosecutor's office, meanwhile, tweeted that its staff together with the city police were "conducting an operation against organized crime." According to the office, they are raiding several flats and jewelry stores on suspicion of fencing stolen items.
In February, a Berlin court handed prison sentences to three individuals over the gold coin heist. One more defendant was acquitted.
