Explosion rips through museum in art heist of 2,500-year-old gold helmet

An detonation ripped done a depository successful the Netherlands earlier thieves stole aggregate Romanian prehistoric artefacts, including a 2,500-year-old golden helmet.

Footage shows 3 masked men breaking successful the Drents Museum successful the northeast metropolis of Assen, followed by a blast.

It is conscionable a fewer minutes aboriginal that the suspects are seen fleeing successful the aboriginal hours of Saturday morning.

Three Dacian royal bracelets and the aureate helmet of Cotofenesti, which dates from astir 450 BCE, were stolen, the depository confirmed.

They were portion of an accumulation astir the past kingdom of Dacia, which was situated successful present-day Romania.

Interpol has been drafted arsenic portion of a large-scale probe arsenic determination are present fears that the treasures volition soon beryllium melted down.

Art ‘detective’ Arthur Brand, who retrieved Van Gogh’s £4.7 cardinal coating ‘The Parsonage Garden astatine Nuenen’ aft it was stolen from different Dutch museum, said the Netherlands has go a hotspot for thefts involving explosives, the NL Times reported.

He said: ‘The thieves person realized this method works. The entity is the limit; the gates are wide open.

‘This is profoundly concerning connected each fronts. Police and authorities indispensable find answers quickly.’

The historiographer besides expressed concerns astir the likelihood of recovering the stolen artifacts, explaining that golden is often melted down to beryllium sold.

Brand stressed this is ‘a nightmare script for immoderate museum’ and added: ‘Paintings are often stolen with the intent to merchantability oregon instrumentality them later.

‘But golden is stolen to beryllium melted down. For Romania, this is simply a disaster. This postulation was important nationalist heritage.’

The artifacts were connected indebtedness to the Drents depository and beryllium to Romania’s National History Museum successful the superior Bucharest.

For Romanians, the helmet of Cotofenesti is 1 of the astir culturally and historically important artifacts, and is pictured successful schoolhouse past books.

Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis descried it arsenic ‘priceless’ successful a station connected Facebook.

He said Dutch premier curate Dick Schoof had assured him the authorities were taking ‘all indispensable measures to place the suspects and retrieve the artefacts’.

Police are presently focused connected identifying the men successful the CCTV video they released and are investigating a suspicious car connected occurrence adjacent Rolde.

They fishy that the conveyance whitethorn beryllium linked to the detonation and burglary astatine the museum.

‘A imaginable script is that the suspects switched to different conveyance successful the vicinity of the fire,’ Dutch authorities said.

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