Investigators after Manching coin robbery: “The weekend was definitely interesting”

Enlarge image

Riot police forces search the area around the Celtic and Roman Museum in Manching for traces

Photo: Lennart Preiss / dpa

After the gold theft from a museum in Manching, Upper Bavaria, the investigators were confident.

Although they didn't present any hot leads or other concrete successes, a spokesman for the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office (LKA) said on Sunday: "The weekend was definitely interesting, but I can't report anything for tactical reasons."

The thieves had aroused the officers' ambition, according to the spokesman: "We're definitely on it and we're staying on it, quite persistently.

The case grabs us, so we don't let ourselves be squashed.«

The investigators had also evaluated various leads over the weekend.

On Saturday, the police had searched the area around the Manching Celtic and Roman Museum with a large contingent of forces, including the use of metal probes.

They found several items that could be linked to the theft.

"The colleagues are still busy, still evaluating traces," said the LKA spokesman.

According to the previous investigations, the unknown perpetrators entered the museum early Tuesday morning in order to steal a more than 2,000-year-old gold treasure from the Celtic period.

The burglars escaped with almost 500 coins.

They were discovered in 1999 during an archaeological dig in Manching.

According to the museum, it is the »largest Celtic gold find of the 20th century«.

Alarm system, telephone and internet paralyzed

The pure material value of the 3.7 kilogram treasure is estimated at around a quarter of a million euros.

The commercial value for the historical coins is in the millions, but this may be difficult to realize because the coins have a variety of unique characteristics that are well documented.

Experts therefore fear that the perpetrators could melt down the gold and then sell it.

Apparently they acted in a highly professional manner: At the time of the burglary, the telephone network in the Ingolstadt suburb was also sabotaged.

As a result, the telephone, internet and alarm system at the Manching Museum were paralysed.

The officials are also examining connections with similar cases from the past few years, such as the theft of jewels from the Green Vault in Dresden and the theft of coins from the Bode Museum in Berlin.

scr/dpa