The Fast and the Thievish: Criminals steal gold coins from museum in only nine minutes

Jack Birle

November 27, 04:00 AM November 27, 04:01 AM

Criminals in Germany stole 483 Celtic gold coins along with a lump of gold in a heist that took only nine minutes, according to police.

The thieves stole $1.65 million worth of treasures from the Celtic and Roman Museum in Manching, Germany, on Tuesday, according to the .

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The thieves pried the door open at 1:26 a.m., smashed a cabinet display, stole the goods, and left by 1:35 a.m. without tripping any alarms, authorities said. The deputy head of Bavaria’s State Criminal Police Office said communications networks in the region were cut at about 1:17 a.m., allowing the heist to go off smoothly.

"It’s clear that you don’t simply march into a museum and take this treasure with you,” Markus Blume, minister of science and arts for Bavaria, told public broadcaster BR. “It’s highly secured and as such there’s a suspicion that we’re rather dealing with a case of organized crime."

Officials worry the coins may be melted down and sold away because of how recognizable they are.

Interpol and Europol are working on finding the criminals, with the code name "Oppidum" being used for the 20-person investigative team searching for the stolen goods.