Dutch Police Hunt For Perpetrators Of Ancient Artifact Theft Of Gold And Jewelry Helmets From Museums

One of the three stolen royal braces. (Source: Dutch Police)

JAKARTA - The Dutch police are still hunting for the whereabouts of a 2,500-year-old gold helmet and other ancient artifacts stolen from the museum in Assen, with four suspects so far successfully secured.

The fourth suspect in the theft of gold artifacts at the Drents Museum, Assen in January was arrested on February 20. He is a 26-year-old man from Heerhugowaard who was arrested near Obdam.

The main suspect is still being hunted, as is the return of gold artifacts in exchange for a big prize.

"After the arrest this morning, the police conducted investigations in various locations, including a storage garage in Koggenland City, and a house in Heerhugowaard," police said in a statement, quoted by the NL Times on February 25.

Previously, two other male suspects were arrested four days after the theft on January 25. A female suspect was also arrested at the same time.

"The suspect (four) who was arrested was not the person in the picture of a hardware store in Assen. We are still looking for more information about the person in the picture," the Dutch police said, quoted by Romania Insider.

The theft by detonating the door occurred at the Drents Museum, Assen on January 25 in the early hours of the morning, according to the Dutch police who received the blast report at 03:45 a.m. local time, as reported by CNN.

CCTV footage released by police showed suspects opening the outside door before the explosion caused sparks and smoke into the air.

The thieves took away three gold bracelets, dating from about 50 BC, as well as the Cotofenesty Helmet of the 5th century BC, an historically important artifact loaned from the Romanian National History Museum in Bukarest.

The items are part of an exhibition about the Dacia people, the ancient people who occupied most of Romania before being conquered by the Romans. Exhibited since July, "Dacia: Empire of Gold and Silver" features a treasure that is borrowed from various institutions in Romania.

In a press statement by the General Director of the Harry Tupan Drents Museum, described the incident as a "dark day", both for his institution and the Romanian National History Museum.

"We were very surprised by what happened last night at the museum," he said.

"During its 170 years of existence, an incident of this size has never occurred. We are also very saddened by our colleagues in Romania," he added.

The stolen ancient artifacts are estimated at 5.8 million euros by the museum. The collection was insured for more than 30 million euros, including a 9 million euros in collateral filed by the Dutch Government.

A Dutch businessman living in Bukaret announced a prize of 250,000 euros for information leading to the discovery of the four historical objects.

"They have arrested several suspects, but they are not talking. So, I want to bring new attention to this case. And maybe someone is willing to provide information for this much money," said businessman Alex van Breemen.