A carefully planned and audacious heist at a Dresden museum has shocked the world after more than €1 Billion in jewelry, diamonds, art and cultural artifacts were taken in the early hours of Monday 25th November.
The thieves broke into Dresden's Grünes Gewölbe, one of the world's oldest museums, and made off with three priceless' sets of 18th century jewelry. The museum houses one of Europe's largest collection of treasures.
The sheer quantity of valuables which were taken makes even the most audacious Hollywood-esque bank heists look like cases of common shoplifting, and it is believed to be the biggest heist of its kind since World War II.
Over 4,000 individual items were taken, including a priceless 547-Carat sapphire from Tsar Peter I of Russia, diamond-encrusted swords & brooches, along with countless diamonds, emeralds, sapphires, and rubies.
But it's not just the monetary value which has been lost. "We are talking here of objects of immeasurable cultural value," museum director Dirk Syndram said in a news conference. "It's almost world cultural heritage. There is nowhere else a collection of jewelry in this form, quality and quantity."
"The treasures that can be found in the Green Vault and in the Residence Palace have been hard-won by the people in the Free State of Saxony over many centuries," Kretschmer tweeted. "One cannot understand the history of our country, our Free State, without the Green Vault and the State Art Collections of Saxony."
How did the thieves get in?
The thieves - still on the run - removed part of an iron grille on a ground-floor window, then smashed the glass.
At about 05:00 (04:00 GMT) on Monday, firefighters were called to an arson attack at a nearby electricity junction box which caused a power cut to nearby buildings including the museum.
It is believed that the power cut then disabled the museum's alarm system, which allowed the thieves to enter the museum undetected. Without an active alarm system, the museum with breakable windows and fences was defenseless to the thieves. While the CCTV system remained online because of battery backup systems, the antiquated alarm system had no battery backup and so when it lost power, it simply switched off without ever raising the alarm.
Police are examining CCTV footage which shows two suspects in the dark. But more people may have been involved in the robbery.
The museum has already issued a plea for the thieves not to destroy or melt down the priceless historical artifacts saying they are of "inestimable cultural and historical value".
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