‘World’s biggest ever heist’ sees thieves steal up to €1 BILLION of diamonds jewellery from ultra secure German museum
By Guy Birchall
The Sun
November 25, 2019
AUDACIOUS thieves have stolen what could be the world's biggest heist after grabbing a BILLION euros' worth of treasure from a museum said to be as 'secure as Fort Knox'.
The Gruenes Gewoelbe (Green Vault) in Dresden, Germany, was targeted by crooks that broke into the building in the early hours of this morning.
The €1billion theft would be comfortably the largest in history, surpassing the $500million raid on the Gardner Museum in Boston nearly 30 years ago.
The villains cut off a power supply at 5am before breaking through a window into the museum which once boasted it was “as secure as Fort Knox”.
Thieves made off with jewellery and diamonds which may have been worth up to £850million, Bild reports.
Police are yet to confirm exactly what was taken.
The robbers made their getaway in a saloon car and remain on the run but it is hoped that CCTV may have captured them on video despite the electrical outage.
A fire broke out on a nearby bridge overnight and it is believed that the blaze may be connected to the attack on the power supply.
Local reports in Germany say the thieves were “noticeably small” and able to fit through a tiny window.
Saxony police said in a statement this morning that 'unknown' thieves had broken inside the museum but said further details were not yet available.
State police officers are now at the crime scene as they investigate how the thieves gained entry.
A notice on the museum's website this morning states only that the building is closed today for “organisational reasons”.
Regional premier Michael Kretschmer said: “Not only our state collections but we the people of Saxony have been robbed.
“You cannot understand the history of our state without the Green Vault and the state collections of Saxony.”
Two thieves disguised as police officers stole 13 works of art from the Boston museum in March 1990 and the crime remains unsolved.
In 2010, then-museum director Martin Roth boasted in an interview with Die Welt that the Green Vault was 'as secure as Fort Knox'.
The collection dates back to 1723, while the Dresden royal palace which houses it was first built in 1533.
The Green Vault gets its name from the green-coloured columns and decoration in some of the rooms.
This latest heist calls to mind the notorious Pink Panther gang who are behind several of Europe's most daring heists.
Hailing from Eastern Europe, the network of criminals has stolen more than £280million during highly-planned jobs for more than 30 years.
The crime syndicate is made up of around 200 criminals who made their name hiding a giant diamond in a pot of skin cream during an audacious 2003 raid in London.
Made up mostly of Serbians and Montenegrins, the gang has struck all around the world - including cities such as Cannes, Singapore, Dubai and Tokyo.
2 comments:
Nothing is impossible to break in or out of. In most burglaries the people guarding the loot are low paid and poorly trained. Routine and boredom set up shop. Maintenance on equipment becomes lax. Thieves will try to flip a guard to assist them. It is usually because they did their homework to see who is the weakest link. High debt, family illness or placing a person in a compromising situation can easily turn a guard. If that doesn't work they will kidnap a family member. Organized crime criminals look at the easiest method first then work their way up the ladder of scenarios.
If a Detective is worth his salt, he will conduct the investigation the same way. Who, what, when, where, why and how. Begin the time line and it's off to the races!
I guess it wasn't that ultrasecure after all.
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