An the fringes of the trial of the jewel theft from the Green Vault in Dresden, the police arrested a seventh suspect on Tuesday. The 22-year-old had attended the main hearing as a visitor, said the public prosecutor’s office and the Dresden police department. He was urgently suspected of having provided the other accused “with knowledge of the entire crime plan comprehensive assistance in planning and implementing the project,” it said. Investigators also examined the man’s car and apartment in Berlin-Kreuzberg on Tuesday. They were supported by officials from the Berlin police.
In the process, six young men between the ages of 23 and 28 are charged with aggravated gang theft, arson and particularly aggravated arson. The man arrested now is accused of aiding and abetting these crimes. He is to be brought before the investigating judge in Dresden tomorrow.
The accused are Germans and come from a well-known Berlin extended family of Arabic origin. In the early morning of November 25, 2019, they are said to have stolen 21 pieces of jewelery with a total of 4,300 diamonds and brilliants with a total value of over 113 million euros from the treasury and left property damage of over one million euros. They are also accused of having set fire to an electricity box in the old town and a getaway car in the underground car park of a residential building.
One of the six accused broke his silence at the end of March and admitted his involvement in the preparations for the crime. However, he did not name anyone else involved.
DNA analyst testifies at trial
On Tuesday, the head of DNA analysis at the Saxony State Criminal Police Office, Ralf Nixdorf, testified as a witness in the process. Accordingly, several suspects left traces at the crime scene. He was completely sure of four of the six suspects. In another case, the 52-year-old expert assumed with high probability that the person concerned, like the four others, left a genetic fingerprint behind on the outer wall of Dresden Castle.
According to Nixdorf, more than 1,000 DNA samples had been evaluated. But not all could be used. In particular, the traces inside the Green Vault were mostly unusable. Reason: The perpetrators had sprayed with a fire extinguisher. Nixdorf described how the resulting pressure blows DNA material around and covers tracks. “We don’t like that at all,” he said, looking at the evaluation.
On the other hand, the experts found what they were looking for on the outer wall. Traces of DNA were also checked on cigarette butts and chewing gum at the “Schinkelwache” opposite the castle, but there were no hits in the nationwide DNA file.
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