Fugitive twin arrested in connection with Dresden jewel heist
German police have arrested one of two fugitive twins wanted in connection with the spectacular theft of 18th-century jewels from a Dresden museum last year.
A spokesman for Dresden police, Marko Laske, said on Tuesday that a 21-year-old man had been arrested in Berlin. He said further details would be released later.
German police arrested three people last month in connection with the theft of a large diamond brooch, a diamond epaulette and other treasures from Dresden’s Green Vault Museum in November 2019.
The suspects, aged 23 to 26, were charged with organised robbery and arson. Police at the time issued photos of two others, wanted on the same charges, identifying them as Abdul Majed Remmo, 21, and Mohamed
Remmo, 21.
It was not immediately clear which of the Remmo twins had been arrested, on Monday, and which one remained at large.
Searches at more than a dozen locations have not yielded the missing items.
Members of the Remmo family were convicted this year for a similarly spectacular heist, the theft of a 100kg Canadian gold coin known as the Big Maple Leaf from Berlin’s Bode Museum in 2017.
The coin, with an estimated value of €3.75m, has not been recovered and authorities have posited that it was probably cut into smaller pieces and sold.
The Green Vault is one of the world’s oldest museums. It was established in 1723 and contains the treasury of Augustus II the Strong of Saxony, comprising about 4,000 objects of gold, precious stones and other materials.
Shortly after the theft, authorities offered a €500,000 reward for information leading to the recovery of the jewels or the arrest of the thieves.