A hoard of Celtic gold coins worth about €1.6 million (£1.4 million) has been stolen in Germany by four people.

In November, a night raid in Manching, Bavaria, resulted in the loss of hundreds of coins from the museum.

There were many of them dating back to the 1st century BC.

Authorities say there is “overwhelming evidence” in the case, and investigations are ongoing. On Thursday, more details will be released.

Also, whether any coins have been recovered from the horde.

During an operation in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the arrests were made on Tuesday.

Joachim Herrmann, Bavaria’s interior minister, described the suspects as “professional burglars”.

Bild reports that Ch Insp Ludwig Waldinger from the Bavarian police said the mission continues.

There are several federal states where we are looking for properties.”

• Euro1.6m worth of gold coins stolen from German museum in nine minutes

A 1999 archaeological dig near Manching led to the discovery of the coins – one of the biggest discoveries of Celtic gold in the 20th century. Since 2006, they had been displayed.

At the time of their theft, police suspected the perpetrators had sabotaged the museum’s alarm system. The internet cables near the break-in were cut just before the break-in, which caused widespread outages.

Due to this, the alarm system was not triggered when a door was pried open, although it did record the time of the robbery, which lasted less than 10 minutes.

It was being investigated whether the theft involved organised crime and was related to previous raids.

The Berlin Museum was robbed of a gold coin weighing 100kg in 2017. In a dramatic diamond heist at Dresden’s Green Vault museum two years later, thieves stole 21 pieces of jewellery and other valuables.

As a result of the loss of the coins, the museum and the community as a whole were devastated.

It was “like losing an old friend,” said Rupert Gebhard, head of the State Archaeological Collection in Munich.