Thieves use explosives to steal gold ‘masterpieces’ from Dutch museum

Four ancient gold objects were stolen from a Dutch museum in a nighttime raid early Saturday morning.

The thieves used explosives to enter the Drents Museum in Assen, where an exhibition of valuable Romanian gold and silver jewelry was located.

They left with three spiral Dacian bracelets and the centerpiece of the exhibition: the strikingly decorated Cotofenesti helmet, made almost 2,500 years ago.

Romania’s Ministry of Culture has promised to take all possible measures to recover the stolen objects, which had been loaned to the Dutch museum from Bucharest.

Drents Museum director Harry Tupan said staff were “intensely shocked” by the theft, which he said was the largest incident in its 170-year history.

Police were called to the scene after receiving reports of an explosion at 03:45 local time (04:45 GMT) on Saturday.

Officers carried out a forensic investigation and reviewed CCTV footage throughout the day.

Police are also investigating a burning vehicle that was found on a nearby road, and suspect it may be related to the robbery.

“A possible scenario is that the suspects changed vehicles in the vicinity of the fire,” a Dutch police statement said.

No arrests have been made, but authorities suspect several people were involved. Police have called in global police agency Interpol to help with the investigation.

A statement from the museum said four “archaeological masterpieces” were taken, including the Cotofenesti helmet, which dates back to around 450 BC. C., and three ancient Dacian royal bracelets.

The four stolen objects have enormous cultural importance for Romania, and the Cotofenesti helmet is considered a national treasure.

In the late 1990s, treasure hunters unearthed 24 bracelets from the same era and sold them abroad.

The Romanian state worked for years to recover them from collectors in Austria, Germany, France, the United Kingdom and the United States.