More than two years in prison for Dutchman who defrauded German state after jewelery robbery: ‘Was easy’ | Abroad

Marcus van N. (54) managed to persuade the state of Saxony, owner of the Grünes Gewölbe (green Vault) museum, to do so in December 2020. to hand over 40,000 euros in exchange for returning one of the stolen jewellery. The Dutchman, posing as a diamond merchant, claimed that Chechens had offered him the breast star of the Polish Order of the White Eagle for 40,000 euros. Van N. stated that he wanted to return the gem-encrusted award to the national art collection, owned by the state, after the purchase.

After he was handed the 40,000 euros for the buyback of the breast medal in the lobby of an Antwerp hotel, he ran off. In reality he had never had the valuable piece of jewelry in his possession, the Public Prosecution Service in Dresden announced in November 2022. His identity, according to the Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten be traced fairly quickly as he has a significant criminal record for similar crimes. The fifty-year-old had been detained in the Netherlands for other criminal offenses since the beginning of March 2022, according to the newspaper. He was surrendered to Germany in November.

Marcus van N. confessed to the scam. According to him, it was ‘easy’ to obtain information about the jewel robbery in Dresden. “The media covered it extensively,” he said during the trial. According to the Dutchman, he obtained all necessary details about the stolen jewelery via radio, television and the internet.

At the end of 2021, the man in his fifties had approached the Dutch art detective Arthur Brand with what would later appear to be a fabricated story. The detective in turn approached the German police, who found the informant’s story credible and in turn engaged a lawyer appointed by the state of Saxony, as well as a private initiative. This was followed in Antwerp by the meeting of Van N. and the art detective with representatives of the national art collection of Dresden (SKD).

The lawsuit came into question on Friday when it became known that the Dutchman had already been sentenced to three years in prison for the same fraud in Antwerp. The so-called Ne bis in idemprinciple (Latin for ‘not twice for the same thing’) prohibits someone from being tried and punished twice for the same offence. This raised the question of whether the court in Dresden should be allowed to continue the case.

According to the regional news site Tag24, there was ultimately no legal obstacle because the Antwerp judgment has not yet been enforced (issued by a bailiff to the convicted person).

The conviction in Belgium, in April 2023, became known during the reading of the register of foreign convictions in the courtroom in Dresden. Marcus van N. stated that he was not aware of the verdict in question. He was already in custody in Dresden on the day of the verdict in Antwerp. The German court then interrupted the process for almost an hour to find out whether she could continue the lawsuit.

During the burglary of the Grünes Gewölbe museum in November 2019, the burglars stole more than 113 million euros in jewelery from the 18th century. set with 4300 diamonds, brilliants, rubies and sapphires. They were part of the crown jewels of ‘the sun king of Saxony’.

The investigation led to the arrest of seven suspects. Six of them appeared in court in Dresden. They were Germans between 23 and 28 years old. According to German media, they belong to one notorious Berlin ‘clan’. Three of them admitted to being involved in the jewelry heist. A ‘considerable portion’ of the loot was returned in mid-December, after ‘exploratory talks’ between the Public Prosecution Service and the suspects’ lawyers about a reduced sentence in exchange for ‘credible confessions’.

Five of the six suspects were convicted in May. They received prison sentences of up to six years and three months. The sixth suspect was acquitted because he had an alibi for the night of the jewelry heist.

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