2017-07-13 Thu

Three suspects were arrested after they stole the 220-pound Big Maple Leaf gold coin from the Bode Museum in Berlin. German authorities released the surveillance footage of the three thieves on 27th March. The authorities were successful in catching them because of the DNA left at the scene of the crime.

In the Berlin neighbourhood of Neukölln, about 300 armed police in balaclavas raided multiple apartments. Two men were arrested and one man while being escorted covered his head to protect his identity.

The local authorities have identified the thieves belonging to the Arabic-Kurdish family who was active in racketeering, drug smuggling and arms trade. The Neukölln district has one of the highest immigrant populations in Berlin. Police tried to find the coin inside the apartments but its whereabouts remain unknown.

Numismatists and German police are of the opinion that the thieves melted the coin in order to sell the gold. Spokesman Wenzel added that a common trick employed by criminals is to add copper to the gold during the melting process in order to alter the purity and perhaps escape detection.

A neighbourhood jewellery store was also searched as there was some suspicion that it had possible links to the sale of gold from the heist. A car too was seized and inside the car, a balaclava and a knife were found.

The Royal Canadian Mint struck the record-holding .99999 fine, 100-kilogram gold coin known as the "Big Maple Leaf" in 2007. Only five were produced. With a face value of a mere $1 million CAD ($770,000 USD at the time of publication), the coin--20.9 inches in diameter, 1.2 inches thick and weighing approximately 220 pounds--contains over $4 million worth of gold at current prices. It was loaned to the Bode Museum in 2010 by a private owner who remains anonymous.

The thieves climbed onto an elevated train track located between the Hackescher Markt & Friedrichstrasse train stations and used a ladder to access a museum window. They broke into the museum with the help of a heavy instrument and smashed the bullet proof glass cabinet surrounding the coin. It was then loaded onto a wheelbarrow and carried out of the building and along the train tracks until the thieves were across the river. From there, they used a length of rope to climb down from the tracks and drove away in a car. No alarm went off, and security personnel failed to notice the break-in until after the act.