Burglars broke into Dresden's Green Vault in the early hours of today and stole three 'priceless' sets of 18th-century jewellery from a German museum
Burglars broke into Dresden’s Green Vault in the early hours of today and stole three ‘priceless’ sets of 18th-century jewellery from a German museum in what could be the world’s biggest-ever heist.
The diamond thieves switching off a power supply broke in through a window. Once inside, they smashed open a cabinet and stole three jewellery ensembles which were commissioned by Saxony’s former ruler Augustus the Strong in an 18th-century show of power and escaped in a getaway car. Manhunt has so far proved fruitless.
Up to a billion euros’ worth of treasures may have been stolen – which would make it the biggest art theft in history. Experts at the museum, who once boasted that their collection was ‘as secure as Fort Knox’, said today that the value of the items stolen was ‘immeasurable’ and pleaded with the thieves not to destroy them.
The museum director Marion Ackermann said she was ‘shocked’ by the ‘brutality’ of the 5am raid. Augustus competed with French monarch Louis XIV to assemble the most extravagant jewellery, she explained, describing the items stolen as ‘state treasures of the 18th century’. Augustus, who was elector of Saxony from 1694 to 1733 and also king of Poland for much of that time, established Dresden as a cultural centre and founded the museum which was targeted today.
Asked about the suggested value of a billion euros (£850million), she said the value of the items stolen could not be quantified.
“We’re dealing with priceless artistic and cultural treasures. We cannot give a value because it is impossible to sell.”
Pleading with the thieves not to destroy the objects or melt them down, she said the jewellery was of ‘inestimable cultural and historical value’ and could never be sold on the open market.
Dirk Syndram, another director at the museum, said the sets amounted to ‘a kind of world heritage’, totalling about 100 jewellery items. He explained that the stolen sets were part of a ten-set collection which includes not only diamonds, but also sapphires, rubies and emeralds.
One expert has already warned that it will be difficult to trace the diamonds if they are not found in the next few days. The thieves may well break them up and sell them in separate parts as trying to sell a whole ensemble would look too suspicious, said Tobias Kormind of jewellery firm 77Diamonds.
Reports in Germany say the thieves were ‘noticeably small’ and able to fit through a tiny space in a window. Police say they were alerted to the break-in at 4.59am and suspect that the thieves were behind an electrical fire which broke out nearby adding that the smashed cabinet had been made of special safety glass but that it was unclear how the thieves had broken it.
Detectives are now examining the video footage from the German museum in which two people are seen, but others may have been waiting outside to help them escape in a getaway car.
