BERLIN (AFP).- German police have arrested a twin brother from a notorious organised crime family who had been on the run over the pilfering of priceless jewels from a top museum, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Abdul Majed Remmo, 22, was detained on Monday evening in Berlin, prosecutors in the city of Dresden said.

The suspect's twin brother was arrested in Berlin in December over the spectacular heist on the Green Vault museum in Dresden's Royal Palace on November 25, 2019.

The twins had eluded German authorities when they carried out raids in November and arrested three members of the Remmo clan, an extended family of Arab origin notorious for its ties to organised crime.

Police then named them as 21-year-old Abdul Majed Remmo and Mohammed Remmo.

All five suspects are accused of "serious gang robbery and two counts of arson" over what local media have dubbed one of the biggest museum heists in modern history.

The robbers began their brazen raid lasting eight minutes by causing a partial power cut and breaking into the museum through a window.

They then snatched priceless 18th-century jewellery and other valuables from the collection of the Saxon ruler August the Strong.

Items stolen included a sword whose hilt is encrusted with nine large and 770 smaller diamonds, and a shoulderpiece which contains the famous 49-carat Dresden white diamond.

The Remmos were previously implicated in another stunning museum robbery in the heart of Berlin in which a 100-kilogramme (220-pound) gold coin was stolen.

Investigators last year targeted the family with the seizure of 77 properties worth a total of 9.3 million euros ($11.3 million), charging that they were purchased with the proceeds of various crimes, including a 2014 bank robbery.


© Agence France-Presse