Berlin: Thieves broke into a museum in southern Germany and stole hundreds of ancient gold coins within nine minutes without raising the alarm, officials said Wednesday.

This is another indication that the robbery was the work of organized criminals. A lump of 483 Celtic coins and artificial gold, found during an archaeological dig in 1999 near the modern city of Manching, has been the target of a worldwide manhunt by police.

The state criminal police office of Bavaria's deputy chief Guido Limmer told how at 1.17am (local time) on Tuesday, cables snapped at a telecom hub about 1km from the Celtic and Roman Museum in Manching, disrupting the communication network in the area Gone.

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According to Limmer, the museum's security systems captured how a door was forced open at 1.26am and how the thieves left again at 1.35am. During those nine minutes the thieves would have broken into a display cabinet and taken away the treasure.

Limmer claimed that there were "similarities" between the theft in Manching and the recent theft of valuable jewelery from Dresden and a large gold coin from Berlin. Both have been attributed to a gang with roots in Berlin.

We are unable to speculate whether there is a correlation or not. Just this: We are in contact with the partners to look into every aspect.
Markus Blume, Bavaria's Minister of Science and the Arts, claimed that the evidence supported the use of experts.

"It is clear that you don't just march into a museum and take this treasure with you," he told public broadcaster BR. It is very secure, hence the suspicion that we are actually dealing with an organized crime case.

However, the authorities admitted that there was no guard on duty at the museum during the night.

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According to Rupert Gebhardt, director of the Bavarian State Archaeological Collection in Munich, an alarm system was deemed to provide sufficient protection.

According to Gebhardt, the hoard is extremely valuable to both the Manchurian community and to archaeologists throughout Europe. The bowl-shaped coins, which were made of Bohemian river gold and dated to around 100 BC, show links of Celtic settlement in Manching with other parts of Europe.

According to Gebhard, the treasure is worth about 1.6 million euros ($1.65 million).

The coins are well-documented and would be difficult to sell, he added, adding that archaeologists expect them to remain in their original condition and be recirculated at some point.

The worst-case scenario, as a result of the melting, would be a complete loss for us, he said, pointing out that the actual physical value of the gold at the time was only 250,000 euros.

According to Gebhard the size of the cache suggested that it may have been "the war chest of a tribal chief". The largest such find was made in Germany during routine archaeological excavations in the 20th century, and was discovered inside a sack buried under the foundation of a building.

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According to Deputy Police Chief Limmer, the theft of the coins has already been reported to Interpol and Europol. A 20-man special investigation unit, code-named "Opidum" for the Latin name for the Celtic settlement, is set up to find the thieves.