The use of police divers, who searched the Neukölln shipping canal for evidence in the case of the jewel theft from the Dresden Green Vault on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, was unsuccessful. No evidence was found, the Dresden public prosecutor and the Dresden police department said in a joint statement on Tuesday.
About 20 divers from Berlin, Saxony and the Federal Police were deployed at about 150 meters along the banks of the Kiehl. It was previously suspected that the perpetrators could have hidden the loot in the canal appropriately packaged. Possibly one of the six accused gave the information about the location in consultation with his defense attorney and in the prospect of a penalty discount.
Only a few days before Christmas, numerous parts from the jewel collection stolen in Berlin in 2019 had appeared. Saxon officials secured 31 pieces from the theft after consultation with a law firm, drove the former exhibits under heavy guard to Dresden, where they were forensically examined.
Jewels show water damage
The judiciary in Dresden said: There were talks between the “defense and the public prosecutor’s office, including the court, about a possible procedural agreement” and the return of “existing booty”.
The works of art from the Green Vault, which had been hidden until then and then reappeared, apparently showed water damage three years after the crime. It is unclear whether and to what extent the accused actually agree with the court on a penalty discount in the process. The trial continues on January 10th.
Six men from the German-Arab Remmo clan, aged 22 to 28, have been charged with aggravated gang theft, arson and particularly aggravated arson before a juvenile chamber of the Dresden Regional Court. The state treasury of Saxony stolen from the Green Vault in the Residenzschloss in November 2019 had an insured value of 114 million euros.
Hundreds of Remmos live in Berlin. Not all belong directly to the same family, and not all are conspicuous by crimes. But around 200 of them are on record, say investigators, and are related to each other.
One of the Remmos accused in Dresden was previously convicted of breaking into a company in Erlangen that manufactures special spreading devices for the fire brigade. The man was also in Berlin’s Bodemuseum in 2017 when a 100-kilogram gold coin was stolen.