Berlin police officers conducted new raids in Berlin in search of the missing 100kg Canadian gold coin stolen from one of the city's museums. Police raided several homes and jewelry shops that were suspected of being involved in the effort to fence the stolen gold.
Police conducted the raids Thursday morning. Authorities said that they were focusing on the homes and shops owned by eight suspects. No arrests were made but police said that they will continue to investigate establishments connected to the suspects.
The 100kg Canadian coin was part of the loot stolen from Berlin's Bode museum in 2017. Police have managed to recover some of the stolen items but the coin - estimated to be worth more than $4.6 million - still remains missing.
Police said that the suspects they are now investigating are part of a ring that is attempting to melt down the coin and forge them into collector gold coins.
"The evaluation of the evidence is ongoing. Among other things, a possible connection to the theft of the gold coin from the Bode Museum is being examined," Police said.
Some of the jewelry stores that were raided were reportedly trying to sell the forged gold coins as genuine. Police said that they had confiscated some of the counterfeit coins along with tools used to forge them and a "five-digit" sum of cash.
The latest raids come just two days after police had arrested key suspects involved in the daring heist of 18th-century jewels from a Dresden museum last year. The suspects are reportedly linked to a crime family that was also involved in the theft of the Canadian gold coin.
On Tuesday, Berlin police arrested Mohamed Remmo, in the Neukölln district of the city. His cousins, Ahmed Remmo and Wissam Remmo, have already been convicted of robbery and sentenced to several years in prison.
The two men along with another suspect that worked as a security guard at the Bode Museum are believed to have been part of the group that stole the Canadian gold coin.
Police did not confirm whether there was a connection between Remmo's arrest and the latest raids.
