Overview

• Three defendants were convicted of gang robbery for the November 2022 break-in at the Celtic and Roman Museum in Manching and received sentences ranging from four years and nine months to 11 years.
• A fourth defendant was acquitted of the museum heist charge but found guilty of taking part in at least 20 other group break-ins and robberies dating back to 2014.
• The stolen hoard included 483 Celtic coins dating to around 100 B.C., recognized as the largest trove of Celtic gold discovered in the 20th century.
• Investigators recovered only lumps of melted gold on one suspect, indicating that much of the treasure was destroyed after the theft.
• Thieves disabled the museum’s alarms by cutting telecommunications cables and completed the burglary in just nine minutes without triggering security systems.