Several men accused of stealing 18th-century valuables from a German museum appeared in court Friday for the start of their trial.
The six men, ages 23 to 28, allegedly conducted a heist in 2019 in which they stole more than 20 items of jewelry, including 4,300 gems worth 113 million euros, or $126 million, from Dresden’s Green Vault Museum, ABC News reported. They are being charged with gang robbery and arson.
“The defendants allegedly prepared the crime meticulously,” said Thomas Ziegler, a spokesman for the Dresden District Court.
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The men are suspected of taking part in the heist, which occurred in the early hours on Nov. 25, 2019. The museum from which they had stolen artifacts was known for housing one of the largest collections of masterpieces in Europe.
The Green Vault Museum, which was founded in 1723 by Augustus the Strong, the king of Poland and elector of Saxony, housed the treasure collection. It contained more than 4,000 pieces of gold, stones, and other valuables.
The men were charged in September and are believed to have been armed with a revolver and an automatic-loading gun with a silencer.
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Two of the six men were convicted in 2020 for a separate heist in 2017. The men were involved in the stealing of a 100-kilogram, or roughly 220-pound, coin named the “Big Maple Leaf” from the Bode Museum in Berlin.
To date, none of the jewelry that was stolen has been found, including one coin that’s estimated to be worth 3.75 million euros.
