Dutch police lately arrested two extra suspects in reference to the theft of Romanian artifacts from the Drents Museum in Assen, the Netherlands earlier this 12 months in January.
“These suspects are a 20-year-old man and an 18-year-old man, each from Heerhugowaard. Each males shall be questioned about their function within the art theft from the Drents Museum. The stolen masterpieces haven’t been discovered,” based on a translated statement from the Netherlands Police.
The 20-year-old suspect was seen in photographs recorded by safety cameras at a ironmongery store in Assen. The person in these photographs “emerged as a suspect as a result of he purchased a lifeless blow hammer and a sledgehammer on the ironmongery store in Assen which had been much like the instruments used within the theft just a few days later,” according to the NL Times, which first reported information of the arrests.
These safety digicam photographs had been posted on the web site of the Netherlands Police in addition to on Fb and Instagram.
Instantly after the arrests of the 2 suspects on April 23, police searched a home in Heerhugowaard. Earlier that day, law enforcement officials had already searched a home in Opmeer and a enterprise premises in Heerhugowaard. The police assertion stated investigators seized digital knowledge carriers, “amongst different issues”.
“The investigation into the stolen masterpieces from the Drents Museum doesn’t cease with these arrests,” the police assertion stated. “Monitoring down these items continues to be our precedence.”
The stolen artifacts included the golden helmet of Coțofenești and three golden bracelets from 450 BCE that date again to the traditional Dacians, who inhabited elements of the Balkan area.
The Cotofenesti helmet was fabricated from strong gold, weighed slightly over two kilos, and featured elaborate ornament, together with massive research and a scene sacrificing a lamb. It additionally dated again to 450 BCE.
The artifacts had been included within the touring exhibition “Dacia – Empire of Gold and Silver” from the National History Museum of Romania, which had been on show on the Drents Museum since July 2024. The objects had been stolen in the course of the night time on January 24, 2025.
RTV Drenthe previously reported that it had translated paperwork exhibiting the worth of the stolen helmet was €4.3 million ($4.9 million) and that the three stolen bracelets every had an estimated worth of €500,000 ($568,000).
Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu stated the stolen objects had been “of incalculable worth” and Harry Tupan, the Drents Museum director, had known as the theft a “darkish day” within the establishment’s historical past.
“We’re intensely shocked by the occasions final night time on the museum,” Tupan in a press release instantly after the theft. “In its 170-year existence, there has by no means been such a serious incident.”
The Netherlands Police assertion stated after the arrest of the 2 suspects from Heerhugowaard, they’d be taking these photographs offline and and requested everybody who shared the photographs to additionally take away them.
Previous to the arrests of the 2 suspects on April 23, Dutch police made three arrests on January 29, a fourth one in February, and a fifth on April 15. 4 of those suspects are presently in custody.
In February, Bucharest-based Dutch businessman Alex van Breeman introduced he was increasing the reward from €100,000 ($113,550 USD) to €250,000 ($284,870 USD) for priceless ideas resulting in the restoration of the stolen artifacts.
