MADRID, 23 Nov. (PRESS EUROPE) –
The Criminal Police Office of the German state of Bavaria (LKA) reported on Tuesday the theft of a hoard consisting of 483 Celtic gold coins worth millions of euros from the Roman Celtic Museum in the southern city of Manching.
As detailed by the LKA, the collectible value of the gold hoard is estimated at several million euros, as detailed in statements to the German newspaper “Der Spiegel”.
The hoard, consisting of 450 coins, is the largest Celtic gold find of the 20th century. It was discovered in the summer of 1999 during excavations in the Manching area.
The robbery took place in the early hours of Tuesday morning, according to German police. “It’s a classic, like you imagine in a bad movie,” an agent told the aforementioned medium.
Meanwhile, unknown persons intentionally cut several fiber-optic cables on Tuesday evening, disrupting the telephone and Internet connections of around 13,000 private and business customers in and around Manching.
The Bavarian Minister for Science and the Arts, Marcus Blume, described the theft as “a catastrophe” and as “an expression of great criminal energy”.
“Everything must be done to solve the crime quickly and punish the perpetrators to the fullest extent of the law. One thing is clear: those who steal works of art harm our culture,” he said on his Twitter account.
The German police have launched an investigation to clarify how the criminals managed to enter the museum and steal the precious piece, as well as trying to find their hiding place.
