Collection of 2,000-year-old Celtic coins stolen from German museum

A large stash of Celtic coins dating back to about 100 B.C. was stolen from a museum in Germany on Tuesday.

Police in Bavaria said the ancient coins were lifted from the Celtic and Roman Museum in Manching, near Munich, in a daring early morning heist.

The coins, which were found in the area during a 1999 excavation, are believed to be the biggest collection of Celtic gold found last century.

Employees arriving at the museum on Tuesday morning found a broken display case and missing coins.

“The loss of the Celtic treasure is a disaster,” Markus Blume, Bavaria’s Minister of Science and Arts, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur. “As a testament to our history, the gold coins are irreplaceable.”

The 483 coins weigh close to 9 pounds total and are worth around $7 million.

The thieves displayed “incredible criminal energy,” Blume said. Phone and internet services were reportedly disrupted in the entire town during the heist.

“The museum is actually a high-security location. But all the connections to the police were severed,” Manching Mayor Herbert Nerb told told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung. “Professionals were at work here.”

Police are asking any witnesses to come forward and are soliciting any other information that may lead to the recovery of the coins.

With News Wire Services