Detectives hunting for the missing jewels stolen from a German museum in 2019 have raided an apartment block on the far side of the country.
The searches on Saturday came a day after six suspects went on trial accused of a gangland break-in at Dresden’s Green Vault.
But the start of the trial has not brought a halt to inquiries, with police still hoping to locate the missing treasures.
The thieves stole 21 pieces of jewellery and including a diamond-encrusted sword, which belonged to the former monarchs of Saxony, in a haul estimated to be worth at least €113.8 million ($128m).
As well as searching for the loot, detectives are looking into potential accomplices who may have helped the thieves break into the museum.
Authorities gave few details of the evening raids in Essen, an industrial city in western Germany, more than 500 kilometres from Dresden.
A spokesman for Dresden prosecutors said the searches took place "as part of an investigative proceeding" being carried out by that office, without giving further details.
But security sources told German news agency dpa that the joint raids between Dresden and Essen police were linked to the notorious heist.
Police previously made arrests in Berlin, nearer to Dresden, which culminated in members of the notorious Remmo crime family being put on trial.
Members of the clan were convicted for the theft of a giant gold coin from a Berlin museum in 2017 and a bank robbery in the capital in 2014.
In the Dresden case, the six suspects on trial are accused of cutting power to the museum before breaking in through a window and smashing a display case with an axe to steal the jewels.
They are also accused of arson after allegedly escaping in a getaway car and setting fire to the vehicle in an underground car park.
Most of the stolen jewels were from the 18th century and belonged to the Saxon electors Augustus the Strong and Augustus III.
The Saxon royals competed with French monarch Louis XIV to assemble priceless jewellery collections.
Police on the investigation known as Epaulette, after a shoulder piece stolen from the gallery, are offering a €500,000 reward for the loot.
Private fundraisers have put together a further €1 million bounty, an offer extended last week until the end of March.
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Gender equality in the workplace still 200 years away
It will take centuries to achieve gender parity in workplaces around the globe, according to a December report from the World Economic Forum.
The WEF study said there had been some improvements in wage equality in 2018 compared to 2017, when the global gender gap widened for the first time in a decade.
But it warned that these were offset by declining representation of women in politics, coupled with greater inequality in their access to health and education.
At current rates, the global gender gap across a range of areas will not close for another 108 years, while it is expected to take 202 years to close the workplace gap, WEF found.
The Geneva-based organisation's annual report tracked disparities between the sexes in 149 countries across four areas: education, health, economic opportunity and political empowerment.
After years of advances in education, health and political representation, women registered setbacks in all three areas this year, WEF said.
Only in the area of economic opportunity did the gender gap narrow somewhat, although there is not much to celebrate, with the global wage gap narrowing to nearly 51 per cent.
And the number of women in leadership roles has risen to 34 per cent globally, WEF said.
At the same time, the report showed there are now proportionately fewer women than men participating in the workforce, suggesting that automation is having a disproportionate impact on jobs traditionally performed by women.
And women are significantly under-represented in growing areas of employment that require science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills, WEF said.
* Agence France Presse
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