Approximately 1,600 German law enforcement officers raided 18 different locations across the country Tuesday to arrest three men involved with a 2019 heist of jewelry worth nearly $3 billion, according to reports.
Three unidentified German citizens, the eldest aged 26 and two others aged 23, were apprehended and set to see a judge Tuesday, the New York Post reports. Two more suspects, 21-year-olds connected to an organized crime family, are still at-large, per the Post. (RELATED: 11 Germans Charged With Terror Plot To Eventually Overthrow Their Government)
The arrests are for last year’s Dresden museum robbery, in which an estimated $2.8 billion worth of jewels dating back to the 17th century were stolen. Some prized artifacts were not found at the time of the raids, and Dresden police spokesman Thomas Geithner said it would take “a lot of luck in order to find them a year after the crime,” per the Post.
#UPDATES German police arrest three suspects over a spectacular heist a year ago in which more than a dozen diamond-encrusted items were snatched from a state museum in Dresden https://t.co/MWg5uTWyQf pic.twitter.com/y7yjRT8rMK
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) November 17, 2020
Along with the two suspects still outstanding — Abdul Majed Remmo and Mohamed Remmo — the three who were arrested are alleged by authorities to be a part of the Remmo Lebanese crime family, the Post reports. Other Remmo family members were arrested earlier this year for a 2017 theft in Berlin of the world’s second-largest coin, the 220-pound “Big Maple Leaf,” according to the Post. (RELATED: Police Bust Underground Fight Club In The Bronx For Violating Coronavirus Restrictions)
The spoils from the Dresden robbery include gems that had once belonged to the King of Poland Augustus the Strong, a sword encrusted with nearly 800 diamonds, and the 49-carat Dresden white diamond, reports the Post. The dramatic heist was caught on tape, which showed the robbers using an ax to break a window and display case to gain access to their loot.