Four months after a million dollar burglary into a bank near Hamburg, the criminal police raided suspects in Berlin.

Several apartments were searched on Friday morning by the special task force (SEK) and the Kripo, as a police spokesman in Bad Segeberg said.

The police from Schleswig-Holstein were supported by the Berlin police.

According to a report in the "Bild" newspaper, the raid is aimed at members of a well-known Arab clan.

The thieves of the gold coin from the Berlin Bode Museum and the suspects of the diamond theft from the Green Vault in Dresden also came from this group.

A jewelry store in Berlin-Charlottenburg is said to have been searched.

55,000 euros reward for hints

The break-in in the Sparkasse in Norderstedt north of Hamburg in August was planned at great expense. In May, the perpetrators rented an apartment under a false name above the vault of the Sparkasse. The deposit and rent were paid in cash. From there, they buried their way through the floor into the locker room. They broke open more than 600 compartments and stole loot worth several million euros, media reports mentioned eleven million euros. They set the rented apartment on fire to destroy traces.

The ZDF program "Aktenzeichen XY ... unsolved" reported on the case on Wednesday.

The Hamburger Sparkasse (Haspa) and the Kiel public prosecutor's office offered 55,000 euros in rewards for information that led to the apprehension of the perpetrators.

A bank employee had already noticed a man in spring 2020 who had been looking around in the area in front of the vault.

The police search with phantom images and images from surveillance cameras.

Spur leads to Berlin and to well-known protagonists

There may be connections to an attempted break-in into a bank in Hamburg-Altona in October 2020. In that case, the police arrested a suspect in Berlin in November, who is now in custody. A large core drill was also used in this act. However, the perpetrators had to flee without prey. "We check connections," said a spokesman for the Hamburg police.

The Berlin Police Union (GdP) explained: “Due to the last few years it cannot surprise anyone that in such spectacular crimes there are always traces leading to Berlin and to well-known protagonists.

The offspring of said family have repeatedly proven that they are capable of criminal acts and that they are not really deterred by convictions.

Ultimately, the chosen path of consistently pursuing violations of the law and confiscating assets must continue. "