Four men have gone on trial in Berlin, accused of the notorious theft of a huge solid-gold coin from the German capital's Bode Museum in 2017.

Axar.az reports citing BBC.

The 100kg (220lb) Canadian "Big Maple Leaf" was made of pure 24-carat gold and was worth €3.75m (£3.4m; $4.3m).

The chief suspects on trial, all in their early 20s, are two brothers and a cousin from a Lebanese Berlin family accused of organised crime links.

A ladder, a wheelbarrow and a getaway car were allegedly used in the heist.

Detectives have not recovered the coin, and believe it has been either cut into pieces or melted down and sold.

It was one of just five such coins minted by Canada, and had been donated to the museum by an anonymous collector.

Prosecutors allege that the three chief suspects climbed onto adjacent railway tracks and used a ladder as a bridge to break into the museum through a third-floor window, which was not alarmed.

The men then smashed through a bullet-proof glass case to steal the coin.

They are believed to have used a wheelbarrow and skateboard to roll the coin away before abseiling from the tracks to their getaway vehicle. It was in Monbijou Park, on the other bank of the River Spree.

The suspects were named as brothers Ahmed and Wayci Remmo (20 and 24, respectively) and their cousin Wissam Remmo (21).

A fourth man - 20-year-old Denis W - worked as a security guard at the museum and is accused of having facilitated the heist by advising on locations and security.

The men are on trial in a youth court and are not in detention. If found guilty, they could face up to 10 years in jail. The verdict is expected to come on 28 March.