Have the Thieves Behind the Jewel Heist at Dresden’s Green Vault Made a $10 Million Ransom Demand?

The thieves who stole priceless
jewels from the Dresden Green Vault treasury at the end of last
year are allegedly trying to sell some of the loot on the dark web.
Investigators from an Israeli security company claim they made
contact with the criminals online, but authorities in Germany say
it has received no evidence of the ransom demand.

The Tel Aviv-based CGI Group
claims it has been offered two sets of jewels, including the
49.84-carat Saxon White Diamond as well as a Polish
Order of the White Eagle, which is encrusted with ruby and
diamonds. Both were stolen in the audacious heist on November 25 at the
Dresden museum. The message, which was first reported by the German
newspaper Bild, offered both
pieces for €9 million (around $10 million), significantly less than
their estimated worth. The thieves reportedly demanded the sum be
paid in Bitcoin.

The founder and chief executive of CGI group, Zvika Nave, shared
a copy of emails it had received from someone going by the handle
“Dark Grim Reaper,” who had cloaked their true identity through
dark web channels. The message said: “Please note we will not
negotiate,” and “You wont find us dont bother [sic].”

The CGI Group claimed it has
been hired by the museum’s management to look into the theft. But
in a twist to the tale, the Dresden State Art Collections has
denied that it asked the Israeli security firm to investigate the
crime. The museum authority made the announcement in a joint
statement with the Dresden
public prosecutor, and the Dresden police department.

CGI maintains it immediately
communicated all the information it has received to the Dresden
prosecutor’s office but the Dresden authorities refute the
claim. “The company has not forwarded any findings to
the Dresden public prosecutor’s office or the police,” says the
joint statement. “The
investigating authorities have no evidence that jewelry stolen from
the Green Vault was offered for sale,” it
continues.  

Zvika Nave tells Artnet News that he and CGI’s president, Jacob
Perry, were “surprised” that the Dresden authorities had not
received their information. The communication shared by CGI with
Artnet News shows that they tried to telephone, as well as forward
on the communication to the public prosecutor’s press officer,
Juergen Schmidt, on January 6, but received an out of office
response. Artnet News reached out to Schmidt for comment but did
not immediately hear back.

Nave says a “large and well-known law firm in Europe” hired his
company, and that he had assumed they were doing so in accordance
with the insurance policy on the jewels. This is despite the fact
that the Green Vault jewels were
not insured because the premiums were too high.

The jewels were stolen in
the spectacular
heist, during which
around four thieves made off with 11 complete jewelry sets as well
as some partial sets estimated by German
media to be worth a combined €1 billion. Among the missing pieces are more than 100
individual diamond and pearl items, as well as magnificent sets of
rose-cut and brilliant-cut diamonds, and a diamond-encrusted
rapier.

Within the space of a few
minutes, and under cover of darkness thanks to a power outage, two
thieves and two accomplices cut the bars to a ground floor window,
entered the museum, and smashed glass vitrines to grab the jewels.
Authorities suspect gang involvement, and have offered $550,000
million reward for information leading to an arrest or the recovery
of the jewels.

The post Have the Thieves Behind the Jewel Heist at
Dresden’s Green Vault Made a $10 Million Ransom Demand?
appeared first on artnet News.