Four men have gone on trial in Berlin, accused of the notorious theft of a huge solid-gold coin from the German capital's Bode Museum in 2017.

The 100kg (220lb) Canadian "Big Maple Leaf" was made of pure 24-carat gold and was worth €3.75m (£3.4m; $4.3m).

The chief suspects on trial, all in their early 20s, are two brothers and a cousin from a Lebanese Berlin family accused of organised crime links.

A ladder, a wheelbarrow and a getaway car were allegedly used in the heist.

Detectives have not recovered the coin, and believe it has been either cut into pieces or melted down and sold.

It was one of just five such coins minted by Canada, and had been donated to the museum by an anonymous collector.

Prosecutors allege that the three chief suspects climbed onto adjacent railway tracks and used a ladder as a bridge to break into the museum through a third-floor window, whichwas not alarmed.

The men then smashed through a bullet-proof glass case to steal the coin.

They are believed to have used a wheelbarrow and skateboard to roll the coin away before abseiling from the tracks to their getaway vehicle.

To read the complete article, see:
Giant gold coin trial opens in Berlin (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46821706)

To read the complete articles, see:
Four men deny giant gold coin heist from Berlin's Bode Museum(http://artdaily.com/news/110453/Four-men-deny-giant-gold-coin-heist-from-Berlin-s-Bode-Museum)
Four men go on trial for giant gold coin heist fromBerlin museum (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/10/four-men-to-go-on-trial-for-giant-gold-coin-heist-from-berlin-museum)
Trial For Suspects Accused Of Stealing220-Pound Solid Gold Coin Begins In Germany (https://www.npr.org/2019/01/10/684261949/trial-for-suspects-accused-of-stealing-220-pound-solid-gold-coin-begins-in-germa)

To read earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
GIANT GOLD MAPLE LEAF COIN STOLEN (https://www.coinbooks.org/v20/esylum_v20n14a11.html)
GIANT COIN THEFT FAMILY PROPERTIES SEIZED (https://www.coinbooks.org/v21/esylum_v21n29a37.html)