独「近代史で最大の盗難事件」、３容疑者逮捕　宝物は依然行方不明

【ベルリンＡＦＰ＝時事】ドイツ警察当局は17日、同国東部ドレスデンの国立博物館から昨年、ダイヤモンドがちりばめられた宝飾品十数点が盗まれ、世間の耳目を集めた事件の容疑者3人を逮捕した。（写真はドイツ東部ドレスデンの宝物館「緑の円天井」内の様子）
　警察と検察は、首都ベルリンでアパート１０室、車庫や車両を含む、計１８か所で家宅捜索を続けており、「盗まれた宝物と証拠の発見に向け、総力を挙げて取り組んでいる」と明かした。
　強盗犯らは昨年１１月２５日、ドレスデン城にある宝物館「緑の円天井」で大胆な犯行に出た。現地メディアは「近代史で最大の盗難事件」と報じている。
　一行は、一部施設を停電させて窓から侵入。高価な１８世紀のザクセン選帝侯アウグスト強王の収集品を強奪した。
　宝物館は、柄に大粒のダイヤ９個と小粒のダイヤ７７０個を埋め込んだ剣や、「ドレスデン・ホワイト」として知られる４９カラットのダイヤモンドをあしらった肩飾りも盗難品に含まれると発表していた。
　１６日には家宅捜索と容疑者逮捕のため、国内各所から応援を受け、警察官約１６００人が動員された。
　警察は、３容疑者の身元は公表していないが、全員ドイツ人だと明かしている。さらに容疑者２人の行方を追っているという。
　ドレスデン検察は、これら５容疑者に重罪の集団強盗と、放火２件の容疑がかけられているとしている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/11/18-12:18）

German police on Tuesday arrested three suspects and raided properties over a spectacular heist a year ago in which more than a dozen diamond-encrusted items were snatched from a state museum in Dresden.
Investigators were searching 18 properties in Berlin, including 10 apartments as well as garages and vehicles, in connection to what local media had dubbed the biggest art heist in modern history.
The measures today are focused on the search for the stolen art treasures and possible evidence, such as data storage media, clothing and tools, police and prosecutors said in a statement.
The robbers had launched their brazen raid on Green Vault museum in Dresden's Royal Palace on November 25, 2019.
Having initiated a partial power cut and broken in through a window, they had snatched priceless 18th-century jewellery from the collection of the Saxon ruler August the Strong.
Items stolen included a sword whose hilt is encrusted with nine large and 770 smaller diamonds, and a shoulderpiece which contains the famous 49-carat Dresden white diamond, Dresden's Royal Palace had said.
The director of Dresden's state art collection, Marion Ackermann, had refused to put a value on the stolen items, calling them priceless.
Dramatic CCTV footage released at that time showed one of the robbers breaking into a display case with an axe.
Police hunting for the suspects had launched several appeals, offering up to half a million euros in reward for information leading to their arrests.
On Tuesday, around 1,600 officers were deployed in the raids and arrests, with special reinforcements called in from across the country to help in what was code-named Special Commission Epaulette -- after one of the stolen precious pieces.
Police did not name the three arrested, but said they are German citizens.
All three are accused of serious gang robbery and two counts of arson, said Dresden prosecutors.
- 100-kg gold coin -
Germany's best-selling daily Bild said several of the addresses raided in Berlin on Tuesday were linked to a family of Arab origin notorious for ties to organised crime.
The so-called Remmo clan had been implicated in another high-profile museum robbery in the heart of Berlin in which a 100-kilogramme (220-pound) gold coin was stolen.
Two out of three of the suspects convicted in February in that case belonged to the family.
Police have found no trace of the Canadian coin since the late-night heist in March 2017 from the Bode Museum, located close to Chancellor Angela Merkel's Berlin apartment.
The Big Maple Leaf, one of five minted in 2007, is considered the world's second-largest gold coin after the one-tonne Australian Kangaroo issued in 2012.
Investigators probing the Dresden break-in had said they were examining links to the gold coin robbery.
In recent years, so-called clans of primarily Middle Eastern origin have become a particular focus for police in Berlin.
Investigators last year targeted the Remmos with the seizure of 77 properties worth a total of 9.3 million euros, charging that they were purchased with the proceeds of various crimes, including a 2014 bank robbery.
In another huge heist this month, robbers hit a German customs office, making off with 6.5 million euros ($7.7 million) in cash.
Investigators said they drilled through a basement cellar through to the vault, snatching bags of cash.
Police have offered 100,000 euros in reward for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of the suspects.