German police recover bulk of booty from $120 million Dresden diamonds heist
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THESE SALTWIRE VIDEOS
BERLIN (Reuters) – Many of the jewels stolen from a historic Dresden artwork assortment in 2019 in a $120 million heist have been recovered, German police and prosecutors mentioned on Saturday.
The 31 items, together with a breast star of the Polish Order of the White Eagle and an ornate diamond head-dress, had been secured by investigators in Berlin, authorities mentioned.
Their return adopted negotiations between prosecutors and defence legal professionals for the Germans who’re on trial for the November 2019 break-in on the Gruenes Gewoelbe (Inexperienced Vault) Museum.
In all, the items stolen from considered one of Europe’s best artwork collections contained greater than 4,300 diamonds with an estimated worth of greater than 113 million euros ($120 million).
Prosecutors consider the thieves sawed by way of a part of a window grating upfront and reattached it to get into the constructing as rapidly as doable in the course of the heist.
The returned items might be examined by specialists “to verify their authenticity and intactness,” authorities mentioned.
Items nonetheless lacking embody an epaulette on which a valuable stone often called the Dresden White Diamond was mounted.
($1 = 0.9450 euros)
(Reporting by Thomas Escritt; modifying by John Stonestreet)
