21 pieces of jewelry worth $129 million were stolen. A German court convicts 5 men in museum heist
CTV
A German court convicted five men Tuesday of breaking into a Dresden museum and stealing 21 pieces of jewelry containing more than 4,300 diamonds.
A German court convicted five men Tuesday of breaking into a Dresden museum and stealing 21 pieces of jewelry containing more than 4,300 diamonds.
The men ages 24 to 29 received prison sentences ranging from four years and four months to six years and three months, German news agency dpa reported. One defendant was acquitted.
The Dresden state court ruled that the five were responsible for the theft of the 18th century jewelry from the Green Vault Museum on Nov. 25, 2019. Officials said at the time that the stolen items included a large diamond brooch and a diamond epaulet.
The crime was considered one of Germany's most spectacular jewelry heists in recent history. The pieces taken had a total insured value of at least 113.8 million euros (US$129 million).
The men were accused of starting a fire just before the break-in to cut the power supply to street lights outside the museum, and also setting fire to a car in a nearby garage before fleeing to Berlin. They were caught several months later during raids in Germany's capital.
The court convicted them of particularly aggravated arson in combination with dangerous bodily injury, theft with weapons, damage to property and intentional arson.
The judges who heard the case observed that some of the men had acted with "considerable criminal energy," dpa reported. The aim was "to get rich," the judges said.
