Police in Germany have made three arrests in connection with the November 2019 theft of royal jewels from the Green Vault museum in Dresden, Germany.
The arrests came after “hundreds of officers and special forces” raided numerous buildings and vehicles in a Berlin district, The New York Times reports.
The detained men, all Germans in their 20s, are reported to have organized crime ties. They’re being investigated in connection with suspected gang theft and arson, according to the Times.
Two additional suspects are being sought.
“The stolen art treasures have not yet been found,” prosecutors and Dresden police said in a statement.
The stolen items comprised “three sets of 18th-century jewellery of ‘immeasurable worth,’” The Guardian reported at the time of the theft. Local media estimated the value of the items to be more than $1 billion.
According to reports last year, it was believed that the culprits set a fire nearby to trigger a power outage, then entered the building through a window that they broke. Two thieves broke a display case and grabbed the artifacts.
Among the items taken were a “diamond-encrusted dagger, pearl necklace, and dozens of other glittering artifacts,” according to Bloomberg. The jewels were not insured.
The Green Vault, or Grüne Gewölbe, is one of Europe’s oldest museums, according to The Guardian.
Read more at The New York Times