Solid gold coin worth £3.3 MILLION that was snatched in audacious Berlin museum heist has been found ‘melted down’ and turned into a gold bar

  • The coin, weighing 221lbs, was stolen from the Bode museum on March 27
  • Police believe the thieves melted the coin down into a solid 100kg gold bar 
  • Officers have arrested four young men in connection with the brazen raid 
  • The suspects are believed to have connections the Lebanese Mafia

It was labeled one of the spectacular heists in Germany's history.

But now police in Berlin say they may have finally recovered the solid Queen Elizabeth II coin - in the shape of a melted-down gold bar.

The coin, which was worth an estimated £3.3million and weighed 221lbs, was stolen from the Bode Museum in Berlin on 27 March.

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The coin, also known as the Big Maple Leaf, was worth £3.3million and weighed 221lbs  

The coin, also known as the Big Maple Leaf, was worth £3.3million and weighed 221lbs  

The thieves were thought to have loaded the coin onto a wheelbarrow, and carted it out of the building and along the tracks of the nearby Spree river.

It's believed the gang had an inside man at the museum, which allowed them to get past the coin's bullet-proof glass casing.

Now German police have arrested four young men, aged between 18 and 20, after armed raids on an Arab mafia family - believed to be from Lebanon.

Armed officers in balaclavas raided a property in the Neukoelln area of Berlin, earlier in July. 

Earlier this month police launched a series of raids on the Neukoelln area of Berlin

Earlier this month police launched a series of raids on the Neukoelln area of Berlin

One of the suspects is believed to be a former museum supervisor, and the others were linked to another Arab clan suspected of being involved with other thefts.

Berlin Police had complained that they had suffered several problems cooperating with Lebanese authorities to get more information about the family.   

CCTV footage captured the gang as they fled from the museum in Berlin
But they were able to conceal their identities

CCTV footage captured the gang as they fled from the museum in Berlin, but they were able to conceal their identities

Prosecutor Martina Lamb described how she believed the men had, with the help of someone who worked at the museum, used a ladder, wheelbarrow and rope to extract the coin and escape with it.

Police have also said they believed the robbers had broken in through a window at the museum.

The coin, 53 centimetres (20 inches)in diameter and 3 centimetres thick, even made it into the Guinness Book of Records for its unrivalled degree of purity. It was lent to the Bode Museum in December 2010. 

One suspect is believed to be a former museum supervisor, who might have served as the gang's 'inside man' 

One suspect is believed to be a former museum supervisor, who might have served as the gang's 'inside man' 

Carsten Pfohl, of the regional crime office, said: 'Unfortunately, we assume that it has been at least partly, if not completely, broken down.'

One police source said criminals may have added copper while melting down the gold, so as to completely obscure its traces. 

The Bode has one of the world's largest coin collections with more than 540,000 items.

Officers say a ladder, believed to have been used in the raid, was found next to nearby railway tracks - though they found no sign of the thieves

Officers say a ladder, believed to have been used in the raid, was found next to nearby railway tracks - though they found no sign of the thieves