German officials announced on Saturday that they had located a "significant fraction" of the most items from the 2019 jewelryheistof valuable jewels from an 18th-century collection housed in a state museum.
According to the statements made by the police and prosecutors, the authorities in the capital city of Berlin recovered a total of 31 goods throughout the night of Friday into Saturday.
The discovery was made in the midst of the trial of six individuals who were accused of carrying out an audacious nighttime raid on the Green Vault museum located within the Royal Palace in the eastern city of Dresden in November 2019.
The Year 2019 Has Broken The Record For The Most Jewelry Thefts In The Globe
According to research published by the Jewelers' Security Alliance, the number of damages stemming from crimes committed against jewelers increased by 89.1% in 2019 despite the fact that the number of thefts, burglaries, and robberies reduced marginally.
German police find loot from spectacular 2019 museum heist | DW News
According to the group, it received complaints of a total of 1,438 crimes committed against jewelers in 2019, which is a decrease from the total of 1,441 in 2018.
However, the total worth of items stolen in 2019 was $101 million, which is a significant increase from the $53.4 million in the previous year. This rise goes against a twenty-year-long pattern in which losses due to crime have been steadily decreasing.
The alliance stated that a rise in the value of items stolen as well as an increase in the number of attacks on safes were both contributing factors to the surge that occurred in the previous year.
According to the organization, the number of documented safe attacks increased to 44 in 2019, up from 13 in 2018. This is a significant increase from the previous year's average loss of $221,000, which was caused by burglaries of safes.
The burglars made off with more than 4,300 individual diamondsthat were set into 21 separate pieces of jewelry and other treasures that were part of the collection of Augustus the Strong, the prince of Saxony.
The haul that was stolen in 2019 was estimated to be worth at least 113.8 million euros, which is equivalent to almost 120 million dollars based on the current exchange rate. German media dubbed it the largest art robbery in modern history.
The jewels consisted of a sword that had a hilt that was covered in diamonds as well as a shoulder piece that held the world-famous 49-carat Dresden white diamond. There was not a shred of evidence that the diamonds had ever existed.
However, "exploratory conversations" between the defense and the prosecution over the possibility of a settlement and the return of the stolen objects led to a breakthrough, according to the police and the prosecutors, who did not provide any further details.
They added that special police had escorted the artifacts back to Dresden from Berlin once they had been recovered. They are currently being investigated by specialists in order to validate their authenticity.
However, there are a few pieces that are still missing, including a brooch that was once worn by Queen Amalie Auguste of Saxony.
Criminal Organizations
The suspects on trial for the raid are all members of a family referred to as the "Remmo clan." This extended family is notorious in Germany for their complex web of connections to organized crime.
Two of the perpetrators were underage at the time of the incident. The proceeding, which initially began in January, is going to pick back again on Tuesday.
The potential sentence for the defendants is ten years in prison. Approximately forty individuals are still being sought for questioning in connection with the daring theft.
A Dutch man was detained and extradited to Germany last month on charges of falsely providing stolen treasure from a heist. The charges stem from the previous month.
The office of the state prosecutor in Dresden stated that the 54-year-old suspect, who was not identified, had claimed to have been offered a valuable piece that had been stolen during the robbery.
It is suspected that the suspect made contact with a Dutch art investigator in December 2021 and told the detective that he worked as a diamond trader in Antwerp.
He revealed to the investigator that he had been made aware of the possibility of purchasing a historic Polish medal that had previously been housed in the museum for a price of 40,000 euros.
After that, he allegedly ran away with the money, as stated by the prosecutors in November, who stated that he had an extensive history of illegal activity.