2 arrested in Berlin over theft of 100-kg gold coin

BERLIN: Two people were arrested in Berlin on Wednesday in police raids connected with the spectacular theft of a 100-kilogramme gold coin from a Berlin museum earlier this year.

A police spokesman said there was reason to believe that the suspects — held in a series of police raids in Berlin’s Neukoelln district — are among people captured on CCTV footage of the theft.

On March 27, three people walked along the train tracks near Berlin’s Hackescher Markt station, propped a ladder against the wall of the Bode Museum and climbed into the building.

They stole the 100-kilogramme gold coin known as the “Big Maple Leaf,” a commemorative coin issued by the Royal Canadian Mint in 2007, and made off with it using a wheelbarrow they found inside the building.

The coin has a face value of 1 million Canadian dollars ($745,000), although the market price of 100 kilogrammes of gold is more than $4 million.

One of only five in the world, the coin has a diameter of 53 centimetres and is 3 centimetres thick. It has been part of the Bode Museum’s valuable coin collection since 2010.

It features a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II on the front and three maple leaves on the back.

There was no immediate information on Wednesday on the location of the coin, but police investigator Carsten Pfohl said it had likely been destroyed and sold.

“We are working on the assumption that the coin has been sold inparts or as a whole,” Pfohl said. “My hopes that we will find even parts of the coin unfortunately are very slim.”

He added that investigators hoped that particles of gold would still be detectable on clothes, cars and other forms of evidence.

Earlier this week, police released CCTV footage of the suspects, and announced that tips leading to their capture would be rewarded with up to 5,000 euros ($5,700).