Dresden Green Vault trial: Police give expert testimony

As the trial of six men accused of stealing historical jewels from Saxony's Grünen Gewölbe (Green Vault) state treasury in Dresden resumed Tuesday, police witnesses from the Saxony State Crime Office (LKA) presented expert testimony before the Dresden State Court.

The most spectacular revelation in the testimony was the fact that a seventh man, arrested in the courthouse during proceedings he was observing on May 11, was in possession of highly confidential documents only accessible to police, state prosecutors, the court, defense and the accused.

Dresden State Prosecutor Christian Weber on Tuesday told the court that when investigators searched the 22-year-old's apartment in Berlin's Kreuzberg neighborhood they found an electronic tablet containing copies of police investigative documents as well as prosecutors' case work.

Weber said it was unclear how the suspect, who has been in criminal detention since his arrest, gained possession of the documents. He stands accused of aiding and abetting a criminal act.

Prosecutors say he may stand trial separately but will not be retroactively included in the ongoing trial of the others.

Damning forensic evidence

Police witnesses Tuesday also told the court that they had conducted a forensic investigation of one of the vehicles used by the thieves in the heist.

Despite being almost entirely destroyed when the perpetrators torched the car, which police located in Berlin, investigators identified nine glass shards matching the glass in museum display cases from which the jewels were ripped after they were smashed in with axes. Investigators also found DNA traces from three of the accused in the vehicle.

Furthermore, investigators say they found fragments of vinyl foil on the car, which they say was used to camouflage the Mercedes Sedan as a taxi.

Two of the cars that thieves used for the heist were driven back and forth between Dresden and Berlin several times around the time of the heist. CCTV cameras recorded images of them on November 19, 20, 23 and 24, as well as on the morning of the robbery, according to police testimony.

Historic items may be destroyed to sell individual gemstones

The theft took place on the morning of November 25, 2019. In it, the thieves stole 21 pieces of jewelry decorated with 4,300 diamonds and gemstones worth an estimated €113.8 million ($122.17 million) from the famous Green Vault treasury.

The contained items collected and commissioned by Augustus the Strong, elector of Saxony, king of Poland, and grand duke of Lithuania, and built by him between 1723 and 1730.

They also caused another €1 million in property damages when they set fire to an electricity junction box in the old part of the city as well as torching a getaway car in a basement parking garage.

The six men currently on trial in Dresden are aged between 23 and 28 and stand accused of aggravated gang theft, arson, and aggravated arson.

They are German born individuals from an Arab family clan in Berlin known as the Remmo clan. The men are German passport holders so cannot be deported while authorities say many of those in the older generation of the family are stateless, having left Lebanon during that country's civil war. 

The Remmos have been involved in a number of major crimes over the years. They have been accused of stealing millions in cash from banks as well as items from museums that have never been seen again.

Authorities fear the unique works stolen in Dresden may never be seen again.

The clan has, among other things, invested its profits into real estate in Berlin. Authorities there confiscated 77 houses and apartments owned by the family in 2018.

js/jsi (dpa)