An explosion ripped through a museum in the Netherlands before thieves stole multiple Romanian prehistoric artefacts, including a 2,500-year-old gold helmet.
Footage shows three masked men breaking in the Drents Museum in the northeast city of Assen, followed by a blast.
It is just a few minutes later that the suspects are seen fleeing in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Three Dacian royal bracelets and the golden helmet of Cotofenesti, which dates from around 450 BCE, were stolen, the museum confirmed.
They were part of an exhibition about the ancient kingdom of Dacia, which was situated in present-day Romania.
Interpol has been drafted as part of a large-scale investigation as there are now fears that the treasures will soon be melted down.
Art ‘detective’ Arthur Brand, who retrieved Van Gogh’s £4.7 million painting ‘The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen’ after it was stolen from another Dutch museum, said the Netherlands has become a hotspot for thefts involving explosives, the NL Times reported.
He said: ‘The thieves have realized this method works. The sky is the limit; the gates are wide open.
‘This is deeply concerning on all fronts. Police and government must find answers quickly.’
The historian also expressed concerns about the likelihood of recovering the stolen artifacts, explaining that gold is often melted down to be sold.
Brand stressed this is ‘a nightmare scenario for any museum’ and added: ‘Paintings are often stolen with the intent to sell or return them later.
‘But gold is stolen to be melted down. For Romania, this is a disaster. This collection was significant national heritage.’
The artifacts were on loan to the Drents museum and belong to Romania’s National History Museum in the capital Bucharest.
For Romanians, the helmet of Cotofenesti is one of the most culturally and historically important artifacts, and is pictured in school history books.
Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis descried it as ‘priceless’ in a post on Facebook.
He said Dutch prime minister Dick Schoof had assured him the authorities were taking ‘all necessary measures to identify the suspects and recover the artefacts’.
Police are currently focused on identifying the men in the CCTV video they released and are investigating a suspicious car on fire near Rolde.
They suspect that the vehicle may be linked to the explosion and burglary at the museum.
‘A possible scenario is that the suspects switched to another vehicle in the vicinity of the fire,’ Dutch authorities said.
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