Poland halts Nazi ‘gold train’ hunt sooner than expected

About a year after two treasure hunters claimed to have found a Nazi train laden with gold and gems in the Polish city of Walbrzych, a team of 35 researchers that includes Piotr Koper and Andreas Richter is about to throw in the towel once again.

Despite scepticism and even scientific studies declaring that there was no evidence of such train, the two men resumed digging for the treasure-filled wagons earlier this month. But once again they’ve come empty-handed.

Radar image posted on Ritcher and Koper’s website that allegedly shows the train. © 2015 XYZ Spółka Cywilna Piotr Koper & Andreas Richter | Logowanie.

According to Polish media, excavations around the site where the train is allegedly buried will be halted this week, even though it was scheduled to end by the end of August. From now on, efforts to locate it will be made through other means, Haaretz.com reports.

A new timetable for the search is expected to be unveiled on Friday, at a news conference called by the digging team, which is made up by volunteers rather than Polish officials, who refrained from participating in the search efforts as they did last year.

Aerial of the alleged location. (Tomas Borysiuk via Twitter)

Tales that have circulated since the end of World War II, suggest the Nazis hid a train containing up to 300 tons of gold, as well as diamonds and firearms.

A number of trains are believed to have been used by the Nazis in the 1940s to transport goods stolen from people in Eastern Europe back to Berlin. While some might have made it to the German capital, others are said to have been left behind by Soviet troops, as they advanced in 1945.