BERLIN: Thieves stole a gold coin with a face value of $1 million and weighing 100 kilograms from Berlin’s Bode Museum on Monday.

According to German media, the stolen coin is the “Big Maple Leaf”, a commemorative piece issued by the Royal Canadian Mint in 2007.

The coin, 53 centimetres across and three centimetres thick, features the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II.

Bode Museum gave the face value of the coin at $1 million, though the market price of 100 kg of gold is around $4 million.

German police said on Twitter that the robbers likely used a ladder found at a nearby rail track to break into the museum almost two hours before sunrise.

Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2017