Thieves Dynamite Door of Dutch Museum to Steal Gold Artifacts
138Jan. 29, 2025
A trio of robbers in the early hours of January 25 used explosives to blast open the front doors of theDrents Museumin Assen, the Netherlands, before absconding with culturally important ancient treasures. Grainy black-and-white CCTV video shows three masked and hooded figures appearing to lay charges before a bright flash appears, followed by the sight of the door askew and off its hinges, sparks still raining as the marauders hurry inside. Among the antiquities they took were three gold Dacian royal bracelets made around 50 BCE and the solid-gold helmet of Coțofenești. Dating to the fifth century BCE, the headpiece had been on loan to the Drents Museum from the National History Museum of Romania in Bucharest as part of an exhibition of priceless gold and silver Romanian jewelry. The studded helmet depicts the sacrifice of a lamb and is considered a national treasure.
“This is a dark day for the Drents Museum in Assen and the National History Museum of Romania in Bucharest,” said Drents Museum director Harry Tupan in a statement. “We are intensely shocked by the events last night at the museum. In its 170-year existence, there has never been such a major incident.”
Following the theft, a burning vehicle was found on a neighboring road. Local police, who have brought Interpol in to assist with the investigation, are exploring the possibility that it is connected to the burglary. “A possible scenario is that the suspects switched to another vehicle in the vicinity of the fire,” posited Dutch police in a statement. The theft echoes another heist in the Netherlands last November—this one botched—in which criminals blew off the doors of Oisterwijk’s MPV Gallery, making off with two Andy Warhol prints and leaving two more behind, damaged, in their haste.