The Bumbling Thieves Who Stole an Enormous $4.3 Million Gold Coin From a Berlin Museum—and Probably Melted It Down—Are Heading to Prison

Three men who made away with one
of the world’s largest gold coins from a Berlin Museum have been
sentenced to prison. 

Cousins Ahmed and Wissam Remmo
broke into Berlin’s Bode Museum on the night of March 27, 2017,
with the assistance of an inside man: Denis W., a childhood friend
who had been hired as a security guard at the institution earlier
that month. Using a skateboard and wheelbarrow, the crafty thieves
absconded with “Big Maple Leaf,” a commemorative coin weighing in
at a whopping 221 pounds that had been issued by the Royal Canadian
Mint in 2007.

After a trial that lasted 41
days in court over the span of a year, Ahmed, 21, and Wissam, 23,
were each sentenced to four-and-a-half-year prison sentences.
(Because the Remmos were, respectively, 18 and 20 years old when
the crime occurred, they were sentenced as juveniles.) Denis W.
received a sentence of three years and four months. A fourth
defendant was acquitted. 

The 99 percent pure gold coin,
valued at roughly €3.3 million ($4.3 million), was on loan from a
private collector at the time of the theft. It hasn’t been seen
since. Gold particles in the convicts’ getaway car and on their
clothes led experts to believe it was broken down, melted, and sold
soon after the incident. Another dead giveaway: Investigators also
found a history of detailed searches on how to break down pieces of
gold on Wissam’s phone.

Other evidence that led to the
arrest of the men included security footage of three black-clad
figures who matched their measurements walking the escape route
outside of the Bode on a night prior to the theft. A rare Armani
jacket identified in the footage was found in Wissam’s apartment,
as was a pair of gloves that contained shards of glass matching
those of the window through which the thieves entered the
building. 

Denis W., who worked the night
shift on the days leading up to the robbery, was seen shopping for
high-end cars and jewelry shortly thereafter. In addition to the
prison sentence, he was fined €100,000 ($108,000)—the amount of
money authorities believe he was paid for abetting the crime. The
Remmos were each fined €3.3 million—the price of the
coin.

A fourth defendant, Wayci Remmo,
was acquitted of all charges after the judge ruled the evidence
against him to be inconclusive. 

Following the case’s conclusion,
lead prosecutor Thomas Schulz-Spirohn promised to continue his
investigation into the Remmo family, which is believed to be
connected to one of Germany’s largest organized crime
operations.

The post The Bumbling Thieves Who Stole an Enormous $4.3
Million Gold Coin From a Berlin Museum—and Probably Melted It
Down—Are Heading to Prison appeared first on artnet
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