It wasn't exactly 'Mission Impossible' - thieves simply pushed a ladder against a window and loaded a coin worth millions into a wheelbarrow. Then they likely dropped the coin and scaled down a rope into an awaiting car.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/H. K. Techt
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When news broke that robbers had stolen a giant gold coin worth 4 million euros ($4.3 million) on Monday night, staff at Berlin's Bode Museum spoke of circumvented security systems and bulletproof glass.
But police released new details on Tuesday that revealed the thieves relied on rather old-fashioned methods.
Berlin investigators said suspects likely ran along some elevated train tracks and pushed a ladder up against an upper-level window. They are thought to have smashed the glass case and loaded the 100-kilogram (221-pound) coin into a wheelbarrow and wheeled it back across the ladder and back down the train tracks.
After crossing the Spree River on the tracks, they climbed down a rope and loaded the giant coin into an awaiting car and escaped.
Police deduced that at least two burglars were involved, given the heft of the coin. They found the rope, the ladder and the wheelbarrow as well a burning Mercedes in an underground parking garage, which all led them to the theory of how the heist took place.
Authorities found a substantial impact mark under the train tracks which indicated the coin had possibly been dropped from the tracks and was likely damaged.
Inside job?
Police questioned whether the burglars had help from the insideImage: picture-alliance/ZB/K. Schindler
Police did not release details on any alarm systems but floated the idea that it could have been an inside job.
Police called for witnesses and any security camera footage that businesses might have captured to be turned over to investigators.
German financial paper "Handelsblatt" reported the coin, known as the "Big Maple Leaf" had been on loan to the museum from a wealthy German real estate developer since 2010. The museum was insured against the loss.
Experts said the 53-centimeter (21-inch) coin, one of only five minted by the Royal Canadian Mint in 2007, would be difficult to sell and would likely be melted down.
The Bode Museum has one of the world's largest coin collections with more than 540,000 items.
'Guilty' verdict on the spectacular 2010 art theft
Five paintings by masters like Picasso, Matisse and Modigliani disappeared from Paris' Modern Art Museum one night in 2010. The loss is estimated at up to 100 million euros. But how could it happen in the first place?
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Through the window
A guard at the Paris Museum of Modern Art discovered the break-in while doing his morning rounds. Museum staff noticed that a window pane and a padlock had been broken. Surveillance cameras revealed a bundled up person climbing through a window in the museum. This painting by Amedeo Modigliani, "The Lady with the Fan," was among those missing.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Five masterpieces
"Dove with Green Peas," painted by Spanish master Pablo Picasso in 2012 also disappeared from the Paris Museum of Modern Art on May 20, 2010. It was the most expensive of the five stolen works.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Who hired the thieves?
Henri Matisse's "Pastoral" (1905) was also among the thief's bounty. Paintings as famous as these essentially cannot be sold because they would draw too much attention on the art market.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Artworks still lost
Pierre Cornette de Saint-Cyr, director of the Palais de Tokyo, which hosts the Museum of Modern Art, simply said the thieves were "idiots" because the stolen works could not be sold. No collector would buy them. They have not surfaced since the theft. Among them is "Olive Tree Near Estaque" by Georges Braque (1907).
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
The thieves had it easy
The motion sensor in the museum hadn't been working for months. And the alarm system, which should have been set off when the window was broken, was also out of order. Apparently, the thieves didn't have many challenges to overcome - even though the museum had recently been outfitted with new security technology.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Open questions
Here, the police are securing evidence at the scene. The case was assigned to a special team of experts, but they still have not been able to locate the works. The thief, Vjéran Tomic, has not revealed who was behind the job, but has now been sentenced to eight years in prison.
