How did thieves steal the world’s second largest coin?

On monday morning, thieves stole a 21st century gold coin from a museum in Berlin.

The coin bearing the head of Queen Elizabeth II, and which is known as “Big Maple Leaf”, is one of only five coins with a commemorative value that have been issued by the Royal Canadian Mint in 2007. It weighs 100 kg and is worth about €3.8m.

It was given on loan to the Bode Museum in Berlin by a German private collector and had been on display in a bulletproof cabinet since 2010.

Like in an old-fashioned film the thieves used a ladder, rope and wheelbarrow to steal the second-heaviest coin in the world.

Berlin police said at least two thieves entered via a window on the third floor of the museum. They made their way to a corner of the museum and smashed the bullet-proof cabinet with a heavy-duty tool. They used the same route to get the coin out of the museum while going unnoticed by either the security guards or the alarm system.

They then pushed the haul down the road and across a bridge to a park nearby.

Police found a burnt-out Mercedes in a car park in the Steglitz area but are unable to say if this car was used in the theft.

They also added that it was unlikely that this theft would have gone smoothly and unnoticed if the thieves didn’t have insider information.

Police are now investigating footage of security cameras from nearby stations and buildings as the CCTVs of the museum had been disabled along with the alarm system.