German authorities said they had found most of the jewels stolen in a £100m heist from a historic art collection.
An overnight operation in Berlin recovered a total of 31 items taken from the Green Vault museum in the eastern city of Dresden’s Royal Palace in November 2019, police said.
Their return followed negotiations between prosecutors and defence lawyers for the Germans on trial for the break-in that targeted one of Europe’s greatest art collections.
More than 4,300 diamonds were stolen, along with several prized items once belonging to 18th century Saxon ruler Augustus the Strong.
Among the items recovered were a breast star of the Polish Order of the White Eagle and an ornate diamond head-dress – though authorities said they had yet to secure the return of pieces including a military shoulder piece adorned with the famed 49-carat Dresden White Diamond.
The returned pieces will be examined by specialists “to confirm their authenticity and intactness,” authorities said.
The 2019 robbery shocked the world. It was dubbed “the biggest art heist in modern history” by the German press and sparked a yearslong hunt which saw police raid apartments across Berlin in search of the stolen treasures.
A trial heard suspects laid a fire just before the break-in to cut the power supply for street lights outside the museum, and also set fire to a car in a nearby garage before fleeing to the German capital.
Prosecutors believe the thieves sawed through part of a window grating in advance and reattached it to get into the building as quickly as possible during the heist.
Shortly after the theft, authorities offered a €500,000 (£436,000) reward for information leading to the recovery of the jewels or the arrest of the thieves.
Saxony’s regional culture minister, Barbara Klepsch, said officials are waiting to see experts’ assessment and discover what condition the recovered pieces are in.
“I remain hopeful that the wound opened in the historic Green Vault in the 2019 robbery will soon be closed,” Ms Klepsch said in a statement.
“This shows that, even three years after this painful break-in, it is worth not giving up hope and pursuing all tracks that arise.”
The Green Vault is one of the world’s oldest museums, opening in 1723. Its collection of treasures was brought together Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony and later King of Poland, who commissioned ever more brilliant jewellery as part of his rivalry with France’s King Louis XIV.
Six men, aged 23 to 28, went on trial in Germany this January over the heist. Two of the men were convicted in 2020 for a similar heist, the theft of a 100kg Canadian gold coin dubbed the Big Maple Leaf from Berlin’s Bode Museum in 2017.
Additional reporting by agencies
