WARSAW (AFP)---A Polish court Thursday sentenced three men to up to two-and-a-half years in prison for stealing the infamous "Arbeit Macht Frei" sign from the Auschwitz death camp, Poland's PAP news agency reported.
Officials at the Krakow court which heard the case declined immediately to confirm the ruling.
The three individuals, whom PAP identified only as Radoslaw M., Lukasz M. and Pawel S., had pleaded guilty, the agency reported.
Their sentences ranged from 18 months to two-and-a-half years, and they were also fined 10,000 zloty (2,580 euros, 3,560 dollars), PAP said.
The sign was stolen late on December 17 or early December 18 from the site of the former Nazi death camp.
It was recovered by Polish police less than three days after the theft and a total of five Polish men were arrested and charged.
The remaining two Poles have yet to come to trial because Polish investigators are waiting for the extradition of a Swedish former neo-Nazi leader also wanted in the case.
The sign, whose German inscription means "Work Will Set You Free", had been cut into three parts by the thieves.
It has long symbolised the horror of the camp where some 1.3 million people
-- 1.1 million of them Jews -- were victims of Nazi Germany from 1940 to 1945.