5 men jailed over US$123 million jewellery heist from German museum
- Five members of a criminal gang that made off with the haul from Dresden’s Green Vault museum in 2019 were sentenced to up to six years in prison
- The loot included a sword with a diamond-encrusted hilt and a shoulder piece which contained the famous 49-carat Dresden white diamond
The thieves made away with a haul worth more than 113 million euros (US$123 million) from the Green Vault museum in November 2019. Some, but not all, of the loot was recovered after four of the defendants made confessions in court.
The thieves are members of the so-called “Remmo clan”, an extended family known for a web of ties to organised crime in Germany.
The regional court in the eastern city handed down three sentences ranging from just under to just over six years for armed robbery, aggravated arson and grievous bodily harm.
Two of the men, who were minors at the time of the crime, received juvenile sentences of five years, and four years and four months respectively.
A sixth defendant was acquitted because he produced a credible alibi – an emergency surgery at a Berlin hospital.